The Ukrainian Football Association categorically condemns the participation of FK "Neftchi" (Baku), FK "Crvena Zvezda" (Belgrade) and SK "Fenerbahçe" (Istanbul) in a friendly tournament taking place in Russian Saint Petersburg. We once again remind the football community of Europe and the world that football has always been used as a propaganda tool by Russia's local criminal regime.

For years now, this propaganda and football as its inseparable attribute have worked against Ukraine with the aim of destroying everything Ukrainian. The Russian Football Union, starting from 2014 when Russian troops first attacked Ukrainian territory, and after February 24, 2022, when full-scale invasion began, has not condemned the actions of Russia's criminal regime, which can be interpreted exclusively as tacit support for all crimes against Ukraine.

The Russian Football Union, other clubs such as FC "Zenit" (Saint Petersburg), which is organizing the tournament, continue to pay taxes into the budget of the RF, and thus are also sponsors of terrorism. We remind you that Russia has been recognized as a sponsor of terrorism by the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE, the European Parliament, and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, while the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for the leader of the terrorist state Vladimir Putin.

The Ukrainian Football Association has repeatedly addressed UEFA, FIFA, all our partners from the football community of Europe and the world regarding the prevention of participation in football competitions by Russian teams, including on Russian territory, as well as visits to Russia and participation in any events involving representatives of the RFU or the Russian football community at large. Because any cooperation with Russian football and visits to the territory of a terrorist state help it divert attention from genocide against Ukraine. They help divert the international community's attention from tens of thousands of innocent victims, many of whom are children, from massive destruction across all of Ukraine, from millions of ruined lives — crimes that have no statute of limitations and for which both the criminal leadership of Russia and everyone involved in funding the budget of a terrorist state must answer.