Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin called the call of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to cancel competitions in Russia unacceptable. He is quoted by RIA Novosti.
“Neither on the territory of the Russian Federation, nor on the territory of Belarus are there any emergency conflicts and situations. We consider it unacceptable and inadequate in the current situation to include additional response measures and sanctions for countries,” he said. Matytsin noted that if there are further actions related to restricting the rights of athletes to participate in competitions, this will be a violation of human rights.
Matytsin added that the Ministry of Sports maintains a dialogue with international federations and does its best to prevent attempts to politicize sports and conflicts at tournaments involving Russians. He said that at the moment, domestic athletes have not been denied visas to enter other countries for the purpose of participating in competitions.
Earlier on February 25, the IOC called on sports federations to cancel or reschedule competitions from Russia and Belarus. According to the statement of the organization, the countries violated the Olympic truce. The IOC does not plan any events on their territory and gives absolute priority to the safety of athletes. The executive committee of the organization also recommended that sports federations not fly flags and not include the anthems of Russia and Belarus in all competitions.
Source: Lenta
Kingston is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
