The Croatian Embassy in Moscow refused to issue visas to nine members of the Russian gymnastics delegation, including two Olympic champions, just two days before the start of the European Championship at Zagreb Arena.
The European Championship in men's and women's artistic gymnastics begins on Thursday at Zagreb Arena and will run until August 23. Although more than 600 gymnasts are expected, several key members of the Russian team will not be among them. The Russian side has expressed strong dissatisfaction after the Croatian diplomatic mission in Moscow denied visas to nine members of their delegation.
The most prominent name on the list is 26-year-old Angelina Melnikova, a three-time world champion and Olympic gold medalist from 2021. Olympic champion Viktoria Listunova was also left without a visa. Gymnasts Anja Kalmikova and Leila Vasiljeva, gymnasts Alexei Usachev, Sergei Naidin, and Yevgeny Kisel, as well as coach Yuli Kuksenkov and team doctor Sergei Gulevski, will also be unable to travel to Croatia.
The Russian Gymnastics Federation notes that the rejections came just two days before the planned departure for the competition and that they received no official decisions regarding the visa denials. Of the 65 registered members of the Russian delegation, 56 received visas.
The Russian state agency RIA reacted sharply to the decision, calling it a provocation by the West against Russian gymnasts. In their article, they claim that the Croats "pulled a dirty trick by finding a loophole in the regulations." According to their interpretation, the transitional arrangement that would allow Russian athletes to compete could only apply to tournaments whose hosting was awarded before July 28, 2026, and the organizers exploited this by citing host country requirements. The visa denials are directly linked to Croatia's ban on Russian athletes competing under national symbols.
"We consider the selective issuance of visas to be a de facto removal of one of the main competitors from the competition. Replacement athletes and other team members received visas, while the leading members of the women's team did not," the Russian Gymnastics Federation stated.
RIA recalls that Romanian authorities previously acted similarly before the Challenge Cup, leading to Russia's withdrawal from the tournament, and accuses Croatia of ignoring the recommendations of the International Olympic Committee and the rules of the International Gymnastics Federation.
The Russian Gymnastics Federation warns that such practices set a dangerous precedent. "This practice creates a dangerous precedent in which administrative decisions can directly affect the composition of participants and the course of the qualification process for the World Championship. The Federation believes this calls into question equal conditions for athletes from all national federations," their statement reads.
Particularly sensitive is the fact that the European Championship in Zagreb is also a qualifying tournament for the World Championship and the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The Russian team still planned to compete, but now they will do so without their best individuals.
Russian sources cite the recommendations of the International Olympic Committee, which they claim "clearly aim at restoring relations with Russia, so it was expected that many federations would support such initiatives." They add that in gymnastics, things were "going well for the Russians even before the IOC recommendations."
