This Tuesday, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia said they were opposed to the presence of Russians and Belarusians at the Paris Olympic Games in 2024, even under a neutral banner.
Poland and the Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) will oppose the presence of Russian and Belarusian athletes at the Paris-2024 Olympic Games, even under a neutral flag, the Latvian Foreign Minister said on Tuesday.
Last week, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) provoked the wrath of Ukraine by proposing a roadmap to organize the return of banned athletes under neutral flag, provided that they have “not actively supported the war in Ukraine“. Kyiv immediately accused the Olympic body of “promote warand threatened to boycott the Paris Games if Russians take part.
Some want to boycott the 2024 Olympics in the event of the presence of the Russians
On Tuesday, the head of Latvian diplomacy Edgars Rinkevics took a stand in the debate: “The decision to allow Russians and Belarusians to participate in the next Games is immoral and wrong“, he tweeted on the sidelines of a meeting in Riga with his Polish, Lithuanian and Estonian counterparts.
Through the voice of its president Zorzs Tikmer, the Latvian Olympic Committee has already threatened to boycott the Olympics: “Latvia will not participate in the Games alongside the aggressor country“, he launched.
Last week, Polish Sports Minister Kamil Bortniczuk had already said that he “did not imagine» the hypothesis of a participation of Russians and Belarusians in the Olympic Games.
In Estonia, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said on Monday that letting the Russians compete “would mock Ukrainians and the tens of thousands of them who lost their lives in Europe’s worst crime against humanity since World War II».
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