The International Olympic Committee on Monday rejected scathing criticism from Ukrainian officers, who’ve accused it of selling battle, after the physique may doubtlessly give Russians the chance to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Mykhailo Podolić, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, over the weekend described the Lausanne-based physique as selling “violence, mass murders, destruction” and stated on Monday {that a} Russian presence on the Games would make the nation “a platform for promoting genocide”. Will give
“The IOC rejects these and other defamatory statements in the strongest terms,” the IOC stated in a press release. “They cannot serve as the basis for any constructive discussion.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who final week referred to as for a marketing campaign to bar Russian athletes from competing in Paris, sought assist from Denmark’s prime minister on Monday.
In his nightly video tackle, Zelensky pledged to “save the sports structures and the International Olympic Movement from being discredited through the efforts of some representatives of the sports bureaucracy to allow Russian athletes into international competitions”.
Russia attacked neighboring Ukraine on February 24 final yr, saying it wished to guard its safety and Russian-speakers. Thousands of individuals have been killed and tens of millions have been rendered homeless from their houses.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba beforehand drew consideration to the truth that a number of Russian Olympians had ties to the navy, together with competing for sports activities golf equipment affiliated with the Ministry of Defense.
“The army that tortures, kills, rapes and robs. This is what the ignorant IOC wants to put under the white flag to be allowed to compete,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter.
Russia has denied allegations that its navy dedicated atrocities in Ukraine.
The IOC stated final week that it welcomed the Olympic Council of Asia’s proposal for Russian and Belarusian athletes to be given the possibility to compete in Asia.
This may doubtlessly embrace Olympic qualifying occasions, as Russian and Belarusian athletes are unable to compete in Europe because of numerous restrictions and sanctions, in addition to protests because of Russia’s invasion.
The IOC then added, nevertheless, that every sports activities federation was “the sole authority for its international competitions”.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has stated that any try and oust Moscow from the worldwide sport, calling its particular navy operation in Ukraine “doomed to fail”.
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
