OKR suspended the financing of programs for 3.5 billion rubles

The Olympic Committee of Russia suspended the financing of sports programs in the amount of more than three and a half billion rubles due to the losses of the organization’s sponsors in connection with sanctions in response to the Russian military invasion of Ukraine. This was reported by the general director of OKR Vladimir Sengleev.

The Olympic Committee of Russia also stated that the total annual budget deficit of all Russian sports federations exceeds four billion rubles.

The head of the OKR Stanislav Pozdnyakov added that the problem with the federal sponsor has not been resolved in the organization, which led to the curtailment of programs related to the preparation of the Olympic reserve.

In early October, the Russian Olympic Committee filed a lawsuit against the International Olympic Committee in a Swiss court demanding eight million dollars. OKR believes that this is exactly how much the organization should have transferred to them from the advertising money received from the marketing partners of the Games.

On October 12, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended the Olympic Committee of Russia (OKR). The measure assumes that the Russian organization can no longer function as a national Olympic committee and receive funding from IOC sponsors.

The removal is connected with the recognition by the OCR of the so-called Olympic councils in the regions of Ukraine, the annexation of which was announced by Russia – Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.

• Russian athletes were suspended from international competitions after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In March of this year, the IOC recommended that athletes from Russia and Belarus be admitted to individual competitions in a neutral status, without using the flags, anthems and symbols of their countries. In addition, they must not support the invasion of Ukraine and do not have the right to represent the armed forces or law enforcement agencies.