Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a decree enacting the decision of the National Security and Defense Council to impose sanctions on ten Russian athletes. They support Russia’s aggression, are involved in the abduction of Ukrainian children, and illegally visit the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
This was reported by the Office of the President of Ukraine.
The sanctions package was formed on the basis of a petition prepared by Ukrainian skeleton racer and member of the Ukrainian national Olympic team Vladislav Heraskevich.
Among those subject to sanctions are those who visited the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia regions and the temporarily occupied Crimean peninsula, publicly justify Russian aggression against Ukraine and the occupation of Ukrainian territories, raise funds for Russian occupiers, and hold events for Ukrainian children illegally abducted by Russia.
“This Ukrainian sanctions package should be a signal to others in the world — a signal that one cannot simply turn a blind eye to support for aggression. When Ukrainians at the Olympics are forbidden to even mention the victims of Russian aggression, this is clearly a global setback for justice. We will restore justice,” the President emphasized.
We will remind you that Vladislav Heraskevych registered a petition on January 27 for sanctions against Russian athletes who support the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine. As of February 16, the petition had gathered more than 8,500 votes.
According to Geraskevich, personal sanctions should be imposed on the following Russian athletes:
- Angelina Melnikova (In April 2025, she won the primaries of Putin’s sanctioned party, United Russia, to participate in the elections to the Voronezh City Duma. She supported the war against Ukraine on social media);
- Svetlana Gomboeva (repeatedly visited Russian-annexed Crimea in violation of Ukrainian law);
- Yana Yegoryan (ambassador of the sanctioned organization “Zdorovoye Otchestvo,” which is involved in the abduction of Ukrainian children);
- Yevgeny Baidusov (visited Russian-annexed Crimea in violation of Ukrainian law);
- Imam Ganishov (in 2023, he visited the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia region on a personal visit to representatives of Russian military formations, and also visited the temporarily occupied Sevastopol. During his visits to the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, Ganishov created photo and video materials in support of the aggressive war and justification of Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian territories, which he distributed online);
- Madina Taymazova (She participated in a propaganda event called “Master Class for Young Judoists from Donbas,” which took place in April 2022. By participating in this event, Taymazova contributed to the creation of a propaganda PR campaign aimed at legitimizing the deportation of Ukrainian children from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine);
- Vladislav Larin (In November 2022, in his video address on the Internet, Larin called on Russian citizens to support and finance Russian military personnel participating in armed aggression against Ukraine);
- Maksym Khramtsov (In April 2025, he took part in a propaganda event – the federal marathon “Knowledge.First” – and held a sports master class for children in the temporarily occupied Donetsk);
- Fedor Chudinov (In October 2024, he visited several cities in the temporarily occupied Luhansk region, where, with the support of the “Healthy Fatherland” movement and the representative office of the All-Russian public and political movement “People’s Front ”For Russia” (under sanctions by the EU, Canada, Switzerland, and Ukraine) in the so-called “LPR,” he held propaganda sports events with Ukrainian children).