Great Britain to support ban on 30 more athletes from Russia and Belarus | – #Great #Britain #support #ban #athletes #Russia #Belarus
LONDON, 20 February (Reuters) – United States, Great Britain and France including more than 30 countries on Monday Russia and declared that they would support banning Belarusian athletes from participating in international sports competitions, Britain said in the statement of the government.
The move increases pressure on the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which is desperate to prevent the 2024 Paris Olympics from being torn apart by Russian interference in Ukraine.
Monday’s statement from the IOC Russia and comes after recent suggestions that Belarusian athletes are exploring a way to allow them to return to competition as neutrals, including at next year’s Olympics.
“Russia and there are serious concerns about the extent to which it is possible for Belarusian athletes to compete on a neutral basis when they are directly funded and supported by their state,” – Britain added in the statement of the government.
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Paris 2024 organizers insisted earlier this month that they would abide by the IOC’s decision to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in the Games.
However, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said that what Moscow called a “special operation”. Ukraine As long as the war continues, the Russian delegation should not participate in the Paris Olympics.
Ukraine Russia and threatened to boycott the Games if Belarusian athletes competed, and Ukrainian world and 2012 Olympic heavyweight champion boxer Oleksandr Usyk said they would win “medals of blood, death and tears” if the Russians were allowed to participate.
Such threats brought back memories of the Cold War boycotts of the 1970s and 1980s and continue to haunt the global Olympic body today, which has called on Ukraine to drop those threats.
The IOC said the boycott would violate the Olympic Charter and include Russians and Belarusians UNsaid that it was based on the resolution against discrimination in the Olympic movement.
of Ukraine After the invasion, many sports organizations reversed course and suspended Russian and Belarusian teams or athletes, while sponsors went to war. protest terminated the contracts.
The British government added on Monday that Russia and Belarus could “end the war they started, paving the way for the full return of their athletes to the international sporting community”.
Earlier this month Ukraine President Vladimir Zelensky 35 ministers attended an online meeting chaired by the UK to discuss the ban call.
As a result of Russian aggression, 228 Ukrainian athletes and coaches perished pointed out that
Reporting by Muvija M and Tommy Lund; Edited by Mark Heinrich and Ken Ferris
Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
2023-02-21 01:24:24
Source – reuters
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