Monitoring Desk
MOSCOW: Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin said on Saturday that calls from ministers of over 30 countries to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in the 2024 Olympics were unacceptable, TASS news agency reported.
A group of 35 countries, including the U.S., Australia, and Germany, will demand to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from the 2024 Olympics, Lithuania’s sports minister said on Friday, increasing the uncertainty over the Paris Games.
The announcement cranks up the pressure on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which is desperate to avoid the sporting event from being torn asunder by the conflict unfolding in Ukraine.
Banning athletes from Olympics unacceptable
The Russian minister said that this was a direct interference of ministers in the activities of independent international sports organizations and an attempt to dictate the status for the participation of athletes in international competitions, which was absolutely unacceptable.
The IOC has opened the door for Russia’s and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals.
He further said that a boycott would violate the Olympic Charter as the inclusion of Russians and Belarusians was based on the U.N. resolution against discrimination within the Olympic movement.
“Now we see an undisguised desire to damage the unity of international sports and the international Olympic movement, making sport a means of pressure to resolve political problems,” Matytsin was quoted as saying.
Another news agency RIA Novosti also reported that Matytsin described as “humiliating” a proposal by Sports Minister of Poland Kamil Bortniczuk to have a team of refugees that would include Russian and Belarusian dissidents.
