Croatia refused visas to nine of Russia's gymnastics delegation, then issued four

Gymnastics Now reported on 10 August 2026 that nine of the 65 members of Russia's delegation to the 2026 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Zagreb had been refused Croatian visas. The reason given, as stated by the Russian Gymnastics Federation, was the formula "There is no justification for the purpose and conditions of the intended stay".

That single generic wording is the only stated ground on record, and it was applied to all nine. No published decision setting out an individual ground for any of the nine refusals has been located.

The Russian Gymnastics Federation said the refusals created "a dangerous precedent in which administrative decisions can directly affect the composition of participants and the course of qualification selection."

The same day, the Croatian outlet tportal reported that, after further consideration of the applications and intervention by European Gymnastics, visas were issued to Angelina Melnikova and Anna Kalmykova and to several further delegation members, among them Leila Vasilieva and Alexey Usachev (tportal uses the Croatian transliterations Meljnikova, Kalmikova, Lejla Vasiljeva and Aleksej Usačov).

Mario Moznik, president of the Croatian Gymnastics Federation, told RTL: "Nakon dodatnih razmatranja danas su ipak dobile vize" - after further consideration they did receive visas today. The Gymternet reported on 11 August 2026 that Croatia reversed the decision for four of the nine.

tportal reported that Viktoria Listunova was among those still without a visa, and separately described her earlier appearances at public events supporting Russia's military action in Ukraine, including ones displaying the "Z" symbol. It also reported that Sergei Naidin and Yevgeny Kisel did not receive visas, describing them as linked to the Russian National Guard.

Those conduct descriptions are media characterization, not stated grounds: no authority published them as the basis of any refusal, and The Gymternet presented its explanation for the Listunova refusal explicitly as the writer's own guess. The Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs said, according to tportal, that applications are examined individually and that, since the start of the war in Ukraine, Croatia applies rules and recommendations adopted at EU level.

Russia's gymnasts competed from 13 August without the Russian flag or state symbols. European Gymnastics said the Croatian government applied measures on the non-use of Russian and Belarusian flags, anthems, national symbols and identifiers. Gymnastics Now's results table lists the Russian entrants as "WG2"; Melnikova placed first in the senior women's all-around final.