On November 29, European Aquatics announced that its President, Antonio Silva, visited Belarus to discuss the country’s potential reintegration into European aquatics activities. The visit represents a major diplomatic move as the sport navigates the ongoing fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Silva was joined by Vice President Erkan Yalcin, Georgian Aquatics Sports Federation President Aleksandre Nikolaishvili, and Vice President Alexander Bitadze. According to the press release, the delegation held two days of meetings with National Olympic Committee of Belarus Secretary General Kseniya Sankovich, Minister of Sport and Tourism Sergey Kovalchuk, and Brest region Governor Petr Parkhomchik.
Notably, Russia was not mentioned in the announcement.
Russia and Belarus have been in various states of suspension since their invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. That began as a complete ban from most World Aquatics meets to a more recent softening of stance that allows athletes not involved in the war effort to compete under a neutral moniker.
Although World Aquatics has allowed Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete at its recent major championships as neutrals, including the 2024 World Short Course Championships and the 2025 World Aquatics Championships, European Aquatics maintained its restrictions on its events until a recent World Aquatics ruling extended the neutral-athletes program to continental competitions and prompted a change in EA policy.
Despite the recent diplomatic outreach and policy changes, neither Russia nor Belarus appear on the psych sheets for the 2025 European Short Course Swimming Championships, which begin tomorrow in Lublin, Poland. Poland has reportedly denied visas to the countries, despite World Aquatics urging the country to admit athletes who comply with the ‘neutral athletes’ policies.
Europe as a whole has taken a tense posture toward Russia and Belarus, given the proximity of the war and rising geopolitical tensions from Russian drones entering the airspace of other European nations. In September, more than 20 Russian drones crossed into Polish airspace, prompting Poland and NATO to scramble fighter jets. Last month, Poland and Romania deployed a new U.S.-made weapon system to protect their countries from Russian drones.
Lublin is only about 50 miles from the border with Ukraine and even closer to the nearest border with Belarus.
