Northern European countries will boycott World Aquatics tournaments due to Russia's participation

The swimming federations of Northern European countries plan to stop organizing international competitions under the auspices of World Aquatics following the decision to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to return to tournaments with their national flags and anthems. 

This was reported by Erkki Susi, president of the Estonian Swimming Federation. The position of the Northern European swimming federations is unanimous: the decision to lift sanctions is not supported and has already been appealed to the European Swimming Federation.

Despite boycotting the organization of the competitions themselves, the Nordic countries have decided not to bar their athletes from international competitions so as not to harm their careers. At the same time, they officially confirm their unwillingness to host tournaments in the coming years until World Aquatics changes its policy regarding representatives of aggressor countries. The board of the Estonian Swimming Federation will hold an additional meeting on this issue on Wednesday.

As a reminder, World Aquatics, the international sports federation that unites national federations of aquatic sports—swimming (including open-water swimming), diving (including high diving), synchronized swimming, and water polo—has allowed Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in international tournaments under neutral status starting January 1, 2026.

The Ukrainian water polo team received a technical defeat in the match for seventh place at the World Cup in Division II due to its official refusal to take the field against the Russian team.