Ukraine, Pand, Baltic countries call on IOC to prevent Russian, Belarusian athletes from competing

The text of the statement has been published on the website of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, according to Ukrinform.

"As we are approaching the next meeting of the Executive Board of the International ympic Committee on March 28-30, 2023, we wish to reiterate Ukraine's position on the IOC recent calls to explore the pathways for participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in competitions as 'neutral athletes'," the statement reads.

The authors said that they had taken note of the concerns raised by the UN Special Rapporteurs on the issue of non-discrimination based sely on the nationality of athletes.

"We regret that the IOC used these concerns as a pretext to reverse radically its previous well-argued stance on the recommendation not to invite or allow the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials in international competitions. We wish to stress that it is not athletes' nationality that determines their re, but the fact that they are sponsored/supported by their governments or businesses backing up the Kremlin regime, which continues its war of aggression against Ukraine, or even they are affiliated with the Russian military directly," the statement said.

Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Pand share the common inion that there exists not a single reason to move away from the exclusion regime for Russian and Belarusian athletes set by the IOC more than a year ago, immediately after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

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"We strongly believe that now is not the time to consider the ening up of a pathway for Russian and Belarusian athletes to return to the ympic Games in any status. While the IOC has made no final decisions yet, we strongly urge it to reconsider its plans and return to the original well-proven stance supported by the international community," the statement says.

The authors recalled that Russia and Belarus have at their disposal a way forward for their athletes to return to the international sports community, namely ending the war of aggression launched by Russia with complicity of Belarus and restoring respect for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.