Polish President Andrzej Duda said he was satisfied on Monday with the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes from the European Games scheduled for Krakow, Poland, from June 21 to July 2.
"I would like to thank you all for having decided that they (these Games, editor's note) take place without the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes", he declared during a ceremony in Rome from where the torch for the European Games, pinning in passing "Russia which is today an aggressor country which started the war in Ukraine" and "the Belarusian regime which helps it".
The boss of the European Games organizing committee already warned last week that Russia and Belarus could not participate in this meeting which brings together 18 Olympic disciplines from June 21 to July 2.
“Under no pretext and in no way will the athletes representing Russia and Belarus take part in our events,” Marcin Nowak had declared on RFM FM radio.
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"In two days (Wednesday) I will welcome (Ukrainian) President Volodymyr Zelensky to Poland," Duda said.
“I can tell him that these will be Games of peace and calm, during which we will not have to pretend that everything is fine,” concluded the Polish president.
