MOSCOW, March 4. /TASS/. The European Karate Federation (EKF) announced a decision to strip Russia of its right to host the 2023 EKF Senior European Championships, the federation’s press office announced in a statement on Friday.

The 2023 Senior European Karate Championship was initially scheduled to be hosted by the Russian capital of Moscow.

"The European Karate Federation today decided to remove the organization of the 2023 EKF Senior European Championships from Russia," the statement reads. "The decision was taken today at an extraordinary EKF Executive Committee meeting."

"Due to the conflict in Ukraine, the EKF’s decision-making body concluded that the right conditions to organize the event in Russia could not be met," according to the statement.

EKF and WKF (World Karate Federation) President Antonio Espinos was quoted by the statement as saying: "Amid the current regrettable circumstances, we want to express our deepest concerns and sympathies to all of those affected by this crisis."

"We hope that a solution to the conflict can be found soon so normalcy is restored and thus our events can safely be hosted again all over Europe," Espinos added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories.