Ukraine, Poland, Baltic countries call on IOC to prevent Russian, Belarusian athletes from competing

Ukraine, Poland, Baltic countries call on IOC to prevent Russian, Belarusian athletes from competing

Ukrinform
As the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee is expected to meet in the next few days, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have issued a joint statement on banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from international sports competitions.

The text of the statement has been published on the website of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, according to Ukrinform.

"As we are approaching the next meeting of the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee on March 28-30, 2023, we wish to reiterate Ukraine's position on the IOC recent calls to explore the pathways for participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in competitions as 'neutral athletes'," the statement reads.

The authors said that they had taken note of the concerns raised by the UN Special Rapporteurs on the issue of non-discrimination based solely on the nationality of athletes.

"We regret that the IOC used these concerns as a pretext to reverse radically its previous well-argued stance on the recommendation not to invite or allow the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials in international competitions. We wish to stress that it is not athletes' nationality that determines their role, but the fact that they are sponsored/supported by their governments or businesses backing up the Kremlin regime, which continues its war of aggression against Ukraine, or even they are affiliated with the Russian military directly," the statement said.

Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland share the common opinion that there exists not a single reason to move away from the exclusion regime for Russian and Belarusian athletes set by the IOC more than a year ago, immediately after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Read also: FM Kuleba: Putin introduces war crimes into sports

"We strongly believe that now is not the time to consider the opening up of a pathway for Russian and Belarusian athletes to return to the Olympic Games in any status. While the IOC has made no final decisions yet, we strongly urge it to reconsider its plans and return to the original well-proven stance supported by the international community," the statement says.

The authors recalled that Russia and Belarus have at their disposal a way forward for their athletes to return to the international sports community, namely ending the war of aggression launched by Russia with complicity of Belarus and restoring respect for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.

While citing and using any materials on the Internet, links to the website ukrinform.net not lower than the first paragraph are mandatory. In addition, citing the translated materials of foreign media outlets is possible only if there is a link to the website ukrinform.net and the website of a foreign media outlet. Materials marked as "Advertisement" or with a disclaimer reading "The material has been posted in accordance with Part 3 of Article 9 of the Law of Ukraine "On Advertising" No. 270/96-VR of July 3, 1996 and the Law of Ukraine "On the Media" No. 2849-Х of March 31, 2023 and on the basis of an agreement/invoice.

© 2015-2024 Ukrinform. All rights reserved.

Extended searchHide extended search
By period:
-