By KYIV. Dec 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine considers the decision of the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in international competitions in a neutral status to be erroneous.
The ministry said this in a statement on the decision of the IOC to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in competitions in neutral status.
“The Ukrainian side informed the Olympic Committee and international partners about the risks of such a decision. Belarusian and especially Russian athletes often represent sports organizations associated with the armed forces of the Russian Federation. Some of them are on active duty in the Russian military, and some of them wear symbols of Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine on their sport uniforms. The IOC is planning to allow athletes to compete at international sports arenas who not only sympathize with the murders of Ukrainian women and children, but are likely to be directly involved in these terrible crimes,” the Foreign Ministry said in the statement.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that the International Olympic Committee has effectively given Russia the green light to weaponize the Olympics. There is no doubt that the Kremlin will use every Russian and Belarusian athlete as a weapon in its propaganda warfare.
“Moscow will not be raising white neutral flags at the competitions, as the IOC suggests, but will be demonstrating the triumph of its ability to avoid responsibility for the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.
“The members of the International Olympic Committee Executive Board who made this decision bear responsibility for encouraging Russia and Belarus to continue their armed aggression against Ukraine,” the ministry said.
Earlier, the IOC Executive Board decided to allow individual athletes in a neutral status from Russia and Belarus to participate in the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024.
The Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, in connection with the decision of the IOC, will voice its position on the participation of Ukrainian athletes in the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games after consultations with the Ukrainian sports community and the country’s top political leadership.
