Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine Matvii Bidnyi shared the results of his visit to Portugal for the Council of Europe’s Conference of Ministers Responsible for Sport on the air of the national telethon. He stressed that this event was an important milestone for Ukraine in the fight against russian aggression in the international sports arena.

“It was an extremely important and successful event for Ukraine. We were able to strengthen our position in the international arena,” said Matvii Bidnyi. The final resolution includes a clause condemning russian aggression and supporting the suspension of athletes from russia and belarus from international competitions.

For the first time in the history of the Council of Europe, the Youth Initiative was introduced at the conference, with Ukraine nominating Yaroslava Mahuchikh. “We nominated our Olympic champion and world record holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh, who immediately became the centre of attention,” the Minister said.

The Minister also spoke about his election to the Executive Committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). “It is a great honour and responsibility for me to represent the Council of Europe at WADA. This is another recognition of the progress we have made in transforming our anti-doping institutions. Our plans for the future are to make our anti-doping policy even more open, accessible and understandable for athletes and coaches,” he said. According to Matvii Bidnyi, most violations occur due to lack of awareness, so it is necessary to work on informing athletes.

When asked about the register of russian athletes-propagandists on the War and Sanctions portal, the Minister said: “We are consistently working to create such resources to prove our position and argue for the need to suspend russian athletes. russian athletes are used as an instrument of hybrid influence, so while the war is ongoing, they should be deprived of the opportunity to compete in the international arena.”