He Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matitsin, denounced attempts to kidnap international federations for prevent the participation of Russian athletes in the Paris Olympics.
“We see how the governments of some countries now openly express their interference in the decision-making process of international federations and attempts to hold them hostage by imposing political conditions on the boycott of the Olympic Games,” he said in a statement.
Matitsin is convinced that this attitude “contradicts the Olympic Charter and aims to destabilize and destroy the Olympic family.”
“Our country has always continued to defend the principles set forth in the Olympic Charter which directly prohibits any kind of discrimination against athletes,” he said.
He recalled that “nobody can be deprived of participation in a competition just because of their passport. That is an open violation of human rights.”
“History shows that boycotts never lead to achieving their goals and, after all, they only end in severe punishment for several generations of athletes,” he said.
The minister emphasized that “in Lausanne they began to understand that major international competitions cannot be organized without the participation of Russian athletes.”
“The important thing is that the proposal of the IOC on the entry of Russian athletes was supported by the majority of members of the Olympic movement“, he emphasized, even Poland, Denmark and the Baltic countries have already come out against it.
Last week, the Ukrainian National Olympic Committee during its meeting opposed the possible participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, after the IOC recommended their re-entry.
In addition, more than a hundred presidents of Ukrainian sports federations have agreed that they may consider boycotting the Games, a decision they will make in the next two months.
The IOC recommends the readmission of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international competitions, under a neutral flag and if they meet a series of conditions, including “not actively supporting the war in Ukraine.”
In this regard, kyiv called on the IOC to clarify the mechanisms to ensure that athletes from these two countries meet this requirement.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba recalled that 45 of Russia’s 71 medals in the previous Tokyo Olympics were won by athletes from the Russian Army Club (CSKA).
“The Army that commits atrocities, murders, rapes and thefts. This is what the idiot IOC wants to allow to compete under the white flag,” he tweeted.
Ukraine also sent letters to large companies that support the IOC to ensure that they are not used for war propaganda.
Source: La Verdad
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