Putin called the ban on Russia’s participation in international competitions discrimination
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Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the decisions of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the plenary meeting of the international sports forum “Russia is a Sports Power”, which started in Perm. He accused the IOC of racist and ethnic discrimination.
“Thanks to some leaders of the modern International Olympic Committee, we learned that an invitation to the Games is not an unconditional right of the best athletes, but a kind of privilege. And you can earn it not through sports results, but through some political gestures that have nothing to do with sports at all. And that the Games themselves can be used as a tool of political pressure against people who have nothing to do with politics, and as crude and actually racist ethnic and discrimination,” Mr. Putin said.
In March 2022, the IOC recommended that international sports federations exclude Russians and Belarusians from tournaments after Russia sent troops to Ukraine. A year later the I.O.C. recommended federations to allow athletes to participate in international competitions in a neutral status. It is expected that with this status, Russians and Belarusians will be able to participate in the Olympics in 2024. Last week, the IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee for an indefinite period due to the inclusion in its composition of the Olympic Councils of the DPR and LPR, as well as the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions.
Read more about IOC sanctions in the Kommersant article. “Olympic Committee – Russia”.
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