MOSCOW, August 19. /TASS/. Russian athletes’ difficulties with issuance of foreign entry visas will last no more than a year as international sports federations will stop organizing tournaments in countries that assume an anti-Russian stance, Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev said on Wednesday.

Acording to earlier reports, Russian athletes and representatives of the national team encountered difficulties with obtaining entry visas to Croatia for the 2026 European Championships in Men's Artistic Gymnastics, hosted by Zagreb on August 19-23.

"In a year, the cancellation of competitions in Europe will begin, because the decisions of the International Olympic Committee [IOC] and sports federations on the reinstatement of Russian athletes’ rights are not subject to review," Degtyarev, who is also the president of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), told the Yunashev Live Telegram channel.

"No one wants to mess with these idiots from the EU and try settling these issues. They will simply ignore them and the [sports] federations will start withdrawing from the countries that assume the most anti-Russian position," he continued.

"We will have to tinker with this issue for about a year, defend each athlete, but the on the whole, the trend is underway. We will have our ‘piece of sports pie’," Degtyarev noted.

First of all, in his opinion, Germany, the Baltic states and Poland will lose the right of hosting international sports events, while France is "still under a question."

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced a decision in July to reinstate the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and also recommended lifting restrictions on the participation of Russian athletes in all international tournaments, including both in individual and team competitions.

IOC previously-imposed sanctions against Russia, Belarus

On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to prohibit athletes from Russia and Belarus from participating in international tournaments, citing Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.

Following the IOC’s recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.

In late March, 2023, the IOC recommended allowing individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in international sports tournaments, but only under specific conditions. Specifically, athletes from the two countries should not be "actively supporting" Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and must compete under a neutral status. Russia and Belarus were also banned from participating in international team events.

On October 12, 2023, the IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) until further notice after the Russian organization included the Olympic councils of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions as its members.