A week after apparently opening the doors for Russia and Belarus to compete in the 2024 Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Tuesday (31) that it maintains sanctions imposed against the two countries over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. .
The IOC issued a statement in response to comments by Russia’s Olympic Committee chief Stanislav Pozdnyakov, who spoke after the IOC’s own announcement last week that athletes from both countries, who are banned from competing in Europe, could win vacancies for the Paris Games (2024) through the Asian classification systems.
“Sanctions against Russian and Belarusian states and governments are non-negotiable. They were unanimously confirmed by the recent Olympic Summit meeting on 9 December 2022,” the IOC tweeted.
The sanctions against the Russian and Belarusian States and Governments are non-negotiable. They have been unanimously confirmed by the recent Olympic Summit meeting on 9 December 2022.
➡️ IOC reaction to comments made by the ROC President Stanislav Pozdnyakov. pic.twitter.com/BuQdZNseDf
— IOC MEDIA (@iocmedia) January 31, 2023
These sanctions include not inviting any Russian or Belarusian government officials to international sporting events and not organizing sporting events in both countries.
Last week, however, the IOC said the Olympic Council of Asia had offered Russian and Belarusian athletes the chance to compete in Asia, drawing an outcry from Ukraine, which called for a ban on Russian athletes over the Russian invasion.
Pozdnyakov responded to this by telling journalists: “Certainly, there is some attempt by the International Olympic Committee to allow our athletes to participate in international competitions. Perhaps also at the future Olympic Games, of course, we welcome it fully,” he added, while warning against what he said were “additional conditions” imposed on Russian athletes.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said allowing Russia to compete in the 2024 Games would amount to showing that “terror is somehow acceptable”. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Monday that the IOC was “promoting violence, mass murder, destruction” and that a Russian presence at the Games would give the country “a platform to promote genocide”.
The IOC, which has largely deferred the issue of Russian Olympic participation to individual sports federations, issued a statement saying it “rejects in the strongest possible terms this and other defamatory statements. They cannot serve as the basis for any constructive discussion.”
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Translated to english by RJ983
From Brazil, by EBC News
