“Boycotting the Olympic Games is not our goal, just as it is not our goal to have the Games without Ukraine, Lithuania or Poland. Our goal is to celebrate the Olympic Games without Russia and Belarus”, said Minister of Sport and Tourism Kamil Bortnichuk

The head of the Ministry of Sport and Tourism took part in a videoconference during which representatives of dozens of countries presented their positions on the IOC’s statement of 25 January this year regarding the potential reinstatement of athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in international competitions.

“The possible neutrality of Russian and Belarusian athletes at the Olympic Games is pure fiction. The only way for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in Paris is as dissidents competing under the flag of refugees”, Minister Bortnichuk stressed.

The meeting, chaired by the UK, was attended by sports ministers and senior government officials from 33 countries, including the US, France, Germany, Canada, Japan and the Netherlands. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenski took the floor before the countries began presenting their positions.

In his address to the participants of the meeting, President Zelenski thanked them for their unwavering support for Ukraine at the international forum so far and stressed that there could be no place for athletes from Russia in sporting competition, including at the Olympic Games in Paris, regardless of what flag they would be competing under.

The participants of the videoconference agreed that the next step would be to prepare a joint statement addressed to the IOC, in which the signatories would officially oppose the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international competition and call on the international Olympic movement not to allow athletes from these countries to compete at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris under a neutral flag.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński