Russia, together with Belarus, has started a war of aggression against Ukraine. This is a violation of the order of the United Nations. The war of aggression brings the world to the edge of nuclear war. It causes suffering for people and animals* in the affected areas.

Furthermore, it causes hunger crises that affect people and animals far beyond these areas. The vast majority of the members of the United Nations have condemned the war and its initiators. FEI and IOC – as well as many other global sports federations – have banned Russia and Belarus. The FEI recognises the ITPF as the global governing body for the equestrian sport of tent pegging. The ITPF wants to integrate tent pegging into the Olympic canon. The ETPA is a member of the ITPF. Russia and Belarus are members of the ITPF and thus automatically members of the ETPA too, even though they have not been active here.

In the face of the war of aggression, the board of the ETPA has decided to suspend Russia’s and Belarus’s automatic membership for the time that peace is violated. The ETPA does this with a heavy heart since we love our friends, the Russian and Belarussian athletes like all other tent peggers. However, they represent states whose acts of war the ETPA objects to.

The board of the ETPA