The Russian rhythmic gymnastics team will not participate in the Challenge Cup.

The Russian rhythmic gymnastics team refused to participate in the Challenge Cup in Romania on June 26. The decision is connected with a gross violation of the competition rules by the local authorities.

Even on the eve of the opening, blue flags were hung in the hall instead of the state symbols of our country, as well as Belarus. And the mayor of Cluj-Napoca stated that the Russian national anthem would not be played in his city and the tricolor would not be used.

"The organizers verbally informed us that the national flag of the Russian Federation will not be displayed at the sports arena and the national anthem will not be performed in the event of a victory for Russian gymnasts. This is a direct violation of the May decision of the World Gymnastics executive committee, according to which Russian gymnasts were fully reinstated," said Linar Ginatullin, press attache for Rhythmic Gymnastics at the Russian Gymnastics Federation.

In addition, it violates the updated provisions of the Olympic Charter aimed at protecting sports and athletes from any external political, state, social and economic pressure.

However, there is still no reaction from the Romanian authorities. Thus, a number of EU countries deliberately ignore the decision of the international federation. And this threatens the very system of international sports law.

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Mikhail Degtyarev, Minister of Sports and Chairman of the Russian Olympic Committee, said on the same day that Russia would do everything possible to ensure that Romania would never host international competitions again. He called the Romanian side's decision a treacherous violation of the Olympic Charter and the charter of World Gymnastics and added that Russia's reaction should be a lesson for Bucharest.