The World Baseball Softball Confederation Europe (WBSC Europe) continues to stand in solidarity with Ukraine, the Ukrainian people and the baseball/softball family in Ukraine in the face of the continued illegal invasion of Ukrainian territory by Russia that began on 24 February 2022.

On 28 February, the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued the following resolution: “In order to protect the integrity of global sports competitions and for the safety of all the participants, the IOC recommends that International Sports Federations and sports event organisers not invite or allow the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials in international competitions.” 

This statement follows an earlier resolution in which the IOC urged all International Federations to relocate or cancel any of their events planned to be held in Russia or Belarus in 2022. 

WBSC Europe had already decided to relocate competitions scheduled to be held in Russia during 2022 and will now go further to support the IOC by excluding Russian and Belarusian teams from all its competitions for both national and club teams to be held in Europe this year. 

This action is supported by the WBSC who published a press release stating their support and assistance with this measure. WBSC Europe fully supports the Olympic Movement in its mission to contribute to peace through sport and to unite the world in peaceful competition beyond all political disputes, and is pleased that the IOC is taking strong measures against Russia’s extremely grave violation of the Olympic Truce and of international law.