Prestigious wine competitions have admitted Crimean wineries subject to sanctions to participate

<span><span><span><span><span><span>The prestigious international wine competitions—the Belgian Concours Mondial de Bruxelles 2026 and the Korea Wine Challenge 2026—have included products from annexed Crimea on their lists of participants. The wines also received awards. </span></span></span></span></span></span>

<span><span><span><span><span><span>This was reported by the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, citing Ukrvinprom.</span></span></span></span></span></span>

<span><span><span><span><span><span>At the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles 2026, the awardees included the Crimean wineries “Valery Zakharin,” Winepark, Alma Valley, PJSC “Massandra,” and Château Ai-Danil. According to Drinks+, some of these enterprises are controlled by individuals close to the Russian authorities and Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.</span></span></span></span></span></span>

<span><span><span><span><span><span>In addition, for the first time, a separate “Crimea” category for country of origin appeared in the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles registration system. Crimea was designated both as a separate “country” and as a wine-producing region.</span></span></span></span></span></span>

<span><span><span><span><span><span>This practice violates international law and European Union legislation. </span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span><span><span>In light of this situation, the Embassy of Ukraine in Belgium has appealed to the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the contest organizers, demanding that they change the registration procedure and classify Crimean wines exclusively as products of Ukrainian origin.</span></span></span></span></span></span>

Earlier, Ukraine launched an interactive encyclopedia about Crimea. The structure of the encyclopedia was generated by artificial intelligence based on materials from the “Crimea Is Ukraine” information platform. The new information resource contains over 400 separate thematic articles about the peninsula, its history, cultural heritage, the Russian occupation and war crimes, the Crimean Tatar people, political repression, international politics, and the current resistance to the occupation.

Юлія Калабайда