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Russian flag at the Olympics: "The wrong way"
Photo: Matt Slocum/ AP
In the past few days, IOC President Thomas Bach had sounded out the possibility of allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes back to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
The Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) initially took a long time to adopt its position on the issue, but after a virtual sports summit with government representatives from more than 30 nations, Berlin is now certain about the “Russia question”: “There are issues In our view, there is no reason to invite Russian and Belarusian sport to return to the competitions," a BMI spokesman told the Sports Information Service (SID) on request.
»The Ukrainian athletes must continue to have the full solidarity and support of the international sports community.
The efforts of the IOC to resume the Russian and Belarusian athletes are the wrong way, "explained the Federal Ministry responsible for sport.
Representatives from Europe, North America, East Asia and Oceania came together on Friday.
Germany was represented by Parliamentary State Secretary Mahmut Özdemir (SPD).
A joint declaration is to be formulated and published in the coming days.
According to statements made by various participants, it became clear that the IOC concept was generally negative.
Culture Minister Lucy Frazer, responsible for sport, who coordinated the meeting, tweeted on Friday evening that she had "made the British position very clear: as long as Putin continues his barbaric war, Russia and Belarus must not be represented at the Olympics."
At the end of January, the IOC brought up the possibility of paving the way for athletes from Russia and Belarus to return to international competitions, despite the ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine.
However, the IOC named as a requirement, among other things, a strict representative decoupling of the activists from both countries from their nations.
A start is only possible without anthems, flags and national colors.
Proposal for compromise from Poland
Ukraine responded with a boycott threat, which IOC President Thomas Bach sharply condemned in a letter to the Ukrainian Olympic Committee.
The Polish Minister of Sport, Kamil Bortniczuk, spoke out in favor of a compromise by proposing that athletes from Russia and Belarus who were critical of the government should start on the Olympic refugee team.
The idea has so far gone uncommented.
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