Ukraine's national motorsport authority has called directly on FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem to impose sanctions against its Russian counterpart.
The Russian Automobile Federation (RAF) has established local offices within occupied territories of Ukraine, directly violating the regulations of global governing body FIA, according to the Football Automobile Federation of Ukraine (FAU).
These newly opened facilities in Crimea, the city of Sevastopol, and the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts operate in regions universally recognized as sovereign Ukrainian territory by the United Nations.
This urgent appeal for official sanctions against the RAF marks the latest escalation following the FIA's controversial decision last month to lift the competition ban on Russian and Belarusian competitors.
In an official public statement, the FAU voiced that it was "outraged by the prolonged inaction of the global governing body."
The organization added: "The FAU has already appealed to the FIA senate and FIA ethics committee, but has received no reaction or reply."
Seeking formal legal recourse, the Ukrainian governing body has now lodged an official case directly with the FIA's International Court of Appeal.
FAU president Oleksander Feldman issued a direct letter to Ben Sulayem demanding immediate administrative action.
"Such short-sighted and counterproductive inaction is unbecoming of representatives of a global governing body," Feldman wrote. "The current situation could have catastrophic consequences for the FIA's global standing."
He further warned: "This is a dangerous precedent that paves the way for member organisations to disregard other provisions of the statutes and requirements of the rules, potentially leading to chaos and jeopardising the FIA's future as an institution."
Under core FIA statutes, the international body permits only one single recognized automobile club or national sporting authority per country.
Feldman's correspondence explicitly demands that Ben Sulayem suspend Russia's membership, re-impose "strict restrictions on Russian athletes' participation in international competitions," and issue a public statement declaring on behalf of the FIA that "the forcible redistribution of sporting authority is unacceptable."
The legal challenge follows comments made a week prior by Ukraine's minister for youth and sport, who informed BBC Sport that the FIA committed a grave error by easing driver restrictions.
"The reasons why Russia was banned from international sports competition have not disappeared," Matvii Bidnyi stated. "Nothing changes and it became even worse."
He continued: "Russia continues full-scale aggression against Ukraine. Belarus continues to provide military support to Russia. Ukrainian people are still being killed every day. And Russian attacks become more and more brutal."
"I don't understand, and Ukrainian people and I know that all European people don't understand what's happened, why now we must make this policy softer."
The broad ban on Russian and Belarusian competitors taking part in international events was first introduced in February 2022 after Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The FIA's World Motor Sport Council formally voted to lift the restrictions on 3 August.
However, other prominent international sporting authorities, including World Athletics, have refused to mirror the decision and maintain absolute bans.
Addressing the policy shift, the Russian Embassy in London provided a statement to BBC Sport last week defending the ruling: "Excluding Russian athletes from international competitions amounts to segregation based on nationality and is incompatible with the principles of the Olympic charter."
The statement added: "The FIA's decision to lift the restrictions on Russian competitors in international motorsport is a step in the right direction. It shows that common sense is gradually prevailing over political bias in major sporting federations."
The FIA has been contacted for formal comment regarding the appeal.
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