35 countries call for Russian and Belarusian athletes to be banned from the Olympics
As long as Putin continues his barbaric war, russia and Belarus should not be represented at the olympics
A group of 35 countries, including the United States, Germany, Australia, and the United Kingdom, will demand that Russian and Belarusian athletes be excluded from the 2024 Olympic Games.
Source. This was reported by the Minister of Sports of Lithuania Jurgita Sugzdiniene, BBC reports.
"We are moving in the direction that a boycott is not needed because all countries are unanimous," she said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took part in an online meeting with ministers from 35 countries to discuss the call for a ban, a Lithuanian official said earlier.
According to him, Zelenskyy's message to the participants was that the principles of neutrality cannot be applied to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"It was a very productive meeting of 35 countries and I made the UK's position very clear: as long as Putin continues his barbaric war, Russia and Belarus should not be represented at the Olympics," tweeted British Culture Secretary Lucy Fraser, who attended the meeting.
The call for the exclusion of Russians and Belarusians from the 2024 Olympics to be held in Paris will increase pressure on the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which recently proposed the possibility of allowing athletes from Russia and Belarus who did not support Russia's invasion of Ukraine to compete under a neutral flag.
"Suspending athletes on the basis of their passport does not correspond to the values and mission of the Olympic Charter. It is possible that Russian and Belarusian athletes could compete under a neutral flag at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris," IOC chief Thomas Bach said last week.
In a letter to the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine released on Thursday, Bach called Ukraine's efforts to "pressure" other countries to boycott the 2024 Paris Games "extremely sad".
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