The Ukrainian government is “very concerned” by the sports federations’ call to include Russians and Belarusians separately at the Olympic Games in Paris, Acting Minister of Sports Marviy Bidny told AFP this Thursday (7).
On Tuesday, international sports federations called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to “as soon as possible” allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to the 2024 Olympics in Paris under a neutral flag.
“As President Uladzimir Zelensky rightly said: ‘It is obvious that every neutral flag of Russian athletes is stained with blood,'” Bidny warned.
“We have a responsible decision and IOC leadership that does not allow Russia to use sports for military propaganda,” the interim minister added after his predecessor, Vadim Gutzeit, was ousted from government in November.
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, caused by the Russian invasion in February 2022, the IOC has postponed the decision on the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the Olympic Games in Paris.
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The solution demanded by sports federations and national Olympic committees is the admission of Russians under a neutral flag, without T-shirts and anthems.
“We respect the principle of neutrality, but neutrality is possible only in peacetime,” protested Bidny, “when there is a war and one nation destroys another, “neutrality” becomes irresponsible.”
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