IOC rejects Ukraine’s criticism of Russian admission to Olympics

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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has dismissed criticism from Ukrainian officials who accused it of war propaganda after the IOC said Russians could potentially have a chance to qualify for the Paris Olympics in 2024.

Source: IOC statement to Reuters

Details: Mykhailo Podoliak, adviser to the President of Ukraine, said this weekend that the IOC promotes “violence, mass murder, destruction”, and said on Monday that Russia’s presence at the Games would mean giving the country a “platform to promote genocide”. “.

IOC quote: “The IOC strongly rejects these and other defamatory statements. They cannot serve as the basis for any constructive discussion.”

Details: On Monday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba drew attention to the fact that many Russian Olympians have ties to the military, including representing sports clubs linked to the Federation Ministry of Defense from Russia.

“An army that commits atrocities, kills, rapes, loots. This is what the ignorant CIO wants to show under a white flag, allowing them to compete,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter.

Background:

Last week, the International Olympic Committee welcomed a proposal from the Olympic Council of Asia to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete in Asia. This could potentially include Olympic qualifying, as athletes from Russia and Belarus cannot compete in Europe at this time.

On January 27, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Ukraine would launch an international campaign to prevent Russian athletes from participating in the Olympics.

On January 28, Zelensky wrote to the presidents of the world’s major sports federations, urging them to speak out on the International Olympic Committee’s decision to reinstate Russian athletes in international competitions.

In early January, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba invited IOC President Thomas Bach and other sports officials to Druzhkivka, where the Russians destroyed the Altair ice rink with a missile. Zelensky invited Bach to Bakhmut, which Russian troops are trying to capture.

IOC President Thomas Bach says he wants to ‘explore the possibility’ of bringing athletes from Russia and Belarus back into international sports, even though that could be the reason for Ukraine’s boycott of the competition .

The Russian Foreign Ministry has said that any attempt to exclude Moscow from international sports through the war, which they call the “special military operation” in Ukraine, is “doomed to failure”.

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