The International Cat Federation (FIFe) has announced that Russian cats have been banned from competitions.
While the Russia-Ukraine war leaves its first week behind, sanctions continue against Russia from countries and federations across the world. After international sanction steps such as economic sanctions, removing Russian teams from sporting events, even from computer game competitions, not using the works of Russian artists and even removing Dostoevsky from its syllabus at an educational institution in Italy – now another move came from FIFe.
According to news from the Washington Post, a statement made by FIFe indicated that cats belonging to exhibitors living in Russia cannot participate in any FIFe fair outside of Russia, regardless of the organization that the participants are members of.
It has been reported that the decision will remain in effect until the end of May and will then be reviewed again.
It was also stated that cats born in Russia are now "persona non grata" and will not be allowed to be imported or registered in the federation.
Federation officials stated that they will provide funds to support cat breeders in Ukraine and thanked neighboring countries for their efforts to help Ukrainian refugees, also expressing gratitude to Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Moldova for the assistance provided to cats in Ukraine.
Some social media users called FIFe's decision "comical," while others welcomed it as an act of "solidarity" with Ukraine.
Russian cats could not be reached for comment.
