USPA Takes Position and Action on Ukraine Conflict

Industry News
Friday, March 4, 2022

On March 4, with unanimous support from the USPA Executive Committee, Executive Director Albert Berchtold released a statement titled “USPA Position and Action on Ukraine Conflict.” It reads: 

“The recent acts of military aggression against the sovereign state of Ukraine by the Russian Federation and Belarus Republic have been felt across the world. We are deeply saddened by the loss of life, as well as the pain and suffering so many are experiencing, due to this event. This conflict has and will continue to accumulate a loss of human life and is a humanitarian crisis far beyond what our world should be subject to in this day and age. 

Effective immediately, the United States Parachute Association hereby cancels any USPA-sanctioned-event invitations issued to athletes, judges, officials or other representatives from the Russian Federation and the Belarus Republic and will not issue future invitations. USPA will also no longer recognize credentials (memberships, licenses or instructional ratings) issued by either of these two countries and/or their appointed National Aero Clubs for the purpose of sport skydiving, competition or instruction at USPA Group Member drop zones or Foreign Affiliate DZs.  Any reciprocal agreements recognizing credentials from these two countries are no longer in effect.   

We look forward to a formal resolution to the conflict occurring in Ukraine and the opportunity for all sport parachutists to return to progressively participating in sport together.”   

A PDF of the official USPA statement is available here: https://uspa.org/portals/0/files/USPA-Position-on-Ukraine.pdf 

In addition, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (the World Air Sports Federation) has suspended Russian and Belarusian members and removed all their rights as listed in the FAI statutes. In effect, this prohibits skydivers from those countries from participating in FAI-sanctioned international competitions such as the World Parachuting Championships. The FAI’s statement is available here: https://www.fai.org/sites/default/files/2022-02-28-fai-statement-on-the-situation-in-ukraine-and-decisions-taken.pdf