Zelenskyy denounces the International Olympic Committee for wanting to lift the ban on Russian athletes

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday expressed strong disappointment over the International Olympic Committee’s recent statement supporting the return of Russian athletes to international sporting competitions.

The IOC indicated on Wednesday that it favors officially neutral teams from Russia and its ally Belarus at the 2024 Paris Olympics, despite a plea from Zelenskyy to exclude them completely.

“It is clear that any neutral flag of Russian athletes is stained with blood,” Zelenskyy said, adding that Russia could use its position to further its “ideological interests”.

He invited Thomas Bach, the president of the IOC, to the devastated city of Bakhmut to see how ‘neutrality does not exist’.

“Today we are embarking on a marathon of honesty, which will aim to purge the leaders of international Olympic structures of hypocrisy and all attempts to drag representatives of a terrorist state into world sport.

“One cannot help but be disappointed by the statements of the current head of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach. I have spoken to him several times. And I have never heard how he will protect the sport from war propaganda if he sends Russian athletes back to international competitions.”

“Ukrainian athletes are forced to protect the lives of their loved ones and the freedom of our people from Russian aggression. Russian strikes have cost the lives of hundreds of Ukrainian men and women who could have enriched world sport with their talent,” he added .

Russia normally competes as part of Europe, but has a tense relationship with many of the countries hosting qualifying events there. Russia and Belarus have been banned from almost all international competitions in Olympic sports after the invasion of Ukraine.

Zelenskyy has said he told French President Emmanuel Macron, whose country is hosting the Olympics, that Russia should have “no place” there.

In Russia, there was praise for the IOC’s approach of Igor Levitin, an aide to President Vladimir Putin who holds influential government and sports positions.

“I think it is already a success. Olympic society understands that the Olympic Games cannot be held without Russia,” Levitin, senior vice president of the Russian Olympic Committee, said in a commentary from the state news agency Tass.