European Judo Union recently presented three Russian sponsors

Now that the IJF has announced to cancel the Grand Slam in Kazan to be held in May, the European Judo Union will be urged to follow up quickly with the cancellation of the European Cup in Orenburg at 14-15 May and the Cadet European Cup in Tula to be held at 2-3 April.

In a time that teams and federations are careful with outings that promote commercial and image activities of Russian partners, the introduction of three event partners is extremely sensitive. Major sports teams like Schalke 04, Chelsea that had Gazprom as a sponsor or Uralkali as sponsor of F1 team Haas, are taken away from the outings of the team.

The EJU recently introduced three new events sponsors for its EJU Judo Tour, all Russian Sponsors.

For each of the tours: Senior European Tour, Junior European Tour and Cadet European Tour, the EJU found presenting sponsors. With the support of the Russian presenting partners the EJU is able to save significant costs for the event organisers by providing most of the event equipment at exceptionally favourable conditions.

Although there is no direct political connection, sporting organization UEFA decided to play matches of Russian and Ukraine football clubs on neutral ground. It could also lead to a total boycott of Russian sports in general. Clubs or federations that trade with Russian organisations may take risks as Russian sponsorships are contaminated. Sponsor of the European Judo Tour is a trading house and the Junior sponsor SMP Group is a bank mainly owned by the billionaire Rotenberg brothers, previously and recently sanctioned by various international governments. Although the goal is to create good conditions for event organization and developing sports, it does trigger obligations to the sponsors who’s activities were recently introduced.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) strongly condemns the breach of the Olympic Truce by the Russian government. The respective UN resolution was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 2 December 2021 by consensus of all 193 UN Member States. The Olympic Truce began seven days before the start of the Olympic Games, on 4 February 2022, and ends seven days after the closing of the Paralympic Games. The IJF followed by cancelling the Grand Slam in Kazan, which would be held in Russia in May.