{"id":208521,"date":"2026-10-22T14:23:42","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T11:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/208521\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T14:23:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T11:23:44","slug":"sweden-considers-refusing-visas-to-belarusian-athletes-reuters","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/208521\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweden considers refusing visas to Belarusian athletes &#8211; Reuters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>October 22, <\/strong><em><strong>Pozirk.<\/strong><\/em> Sweden is examining whether it can refuse visas to Russian and Belarusian athletes seeking to \u200bcompete in international sporting events on its soil, <em>Reuters<\/em> reported citing the country&#8217;s Migration Minister Johan Forssell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The move could prevent athletes granted neutral status from taking part in next year\u2019s Nordic World Ski Championships in the Swedish city of Falun. The biennial championships, featuring cross-country skiing, ski jumping \u200band Nordic combined, are scheduled for February and March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Swedish government is strongly critical of Russian and Belarusian athletes being allowed to \u200bparticipate in international competitions, Forssell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He added that the government supported the position of the Swedish Ski Association and the \u200bSwedish Sports Confederation that Russian and Belarusian athletes should not be allowed to compete in Sweden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;There is an obvious risk that this could lead to the normalization of Russia&#8217;s aggression against Ukraine,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) has granted neutral \u200bstatus to several Russian athletes, making them eligible to compete in its events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Russian and Belarusian athletes have faced widespread restrictions in international sport since Russia launched its full-scale \u200cinvasion of \u2060Ukraine in February 2022, with Belarus serving as a staging ground for Russian forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"insert-block\">\n\n    <div class=\"insert-block__img\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"354\" height=\"236\" src=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/sport-fehtovaniye-pixabay-HPDorn-354x236.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/sport-fehtovaniye-pixabay-HPDorn-354x236.jpg 354w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/sport-fehtovaniye-pixabay-HPDorn-734x490.jpg 734w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/sport-fehtovaniye-pixabay-HPDorn-178x118.jpg 178w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/sport-fehtovaniye-pixabay-HPDorn-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/sport-fehtovaniye-pixabay-HPDorn.jpg 1128w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 354px) 100vw, 354px\" \/>                        <label class=\"insert-block__tag--mobile\"> Society<\/label>\n\n                            <label class=\"insert-block__tag--mobile\"> Sport<\/label>\n\n                <\/div>\n    <div class=\"insert-block__text\">\n                    <label class=\"insert-block__tag\">Society, Sport<\/label>\n                <h3 class=\"insert-block__title\">Nine countries urge EU to curb support for sports bodies easing bans on Belarus<\/h3>\n        <div class=\"insert-block__descr\">October 20, Pozirk. Nine European countries, including Lithuania, have asked the European Commission to limit support for international sports organizations that make concessions to Russia and Belarus, Delfi reports, citing the Lithuanian education, science and sport ministry. The ministry also &#8230;<\/div>\n        <a class=\"insert-block__btn-block\" href=\"\/en\/news\/208220\">\n            <button class=\"btn\">\n                <div class='btn__text'>Read<\/div>\n            <\/button>\n        <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>October 22, Pozirk. Sweden is examining whether it can refuse visas to Russian and Belarusian athletes seeking to \u200bcompete in international sporting events on its soil, Reuters reported citing the country&#8217;s Migration Minister Johan Forssell. The move could prevent athletes granted neutral status from taking part in next year\u2019s Nordic World Ski Championships in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":86059,"template":"","rubric":[16,32],"class_list":["post-208521","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","rubric-politics","rubric-sport"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sweden considers refusing visas to Belarusian athletes - Reuters | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"October 22, Pozirk. Sweden is examining whether it can refuse visas to Russian and Belarusian athletes seeking to \u200bcompete in international sporting\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/208521\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sweden considers refusing visas to Belarusian athletes - Reuters | Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"October 22, Pozirk. Sweden is examining whether it can refuse visas to Russian and Belarusian athletes seeking to \u200bcompete in international sporting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/208521\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-22T11:23:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/stockholm_unsplash_adam_gavlak_1128x752.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1128\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"752\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Pozirk_online\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/208521\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/208521\/\"},\"headline\":\"Sweden considers refusing visas to Belarusian athletes &#8211; Reuters\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-22T11:23:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-22T11:23:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/208521\/\"},\"wordCount\":211,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/208521\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/stockholm_unsplash_adam_gavlak_1128x752.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/208521\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/208521\/\",\"name\":\"Sweden considers refusing visas to Belarusian athletes - Reuters | Pozirk\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/208521\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/208521\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/stockholm_unsplash_adam_gavlak_1128x752.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-22T11:23:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-22T11:23:44+00:00\",\"description\":\"October 22, Pozirk. 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