Russian athletes should not be able to participate in the Paris Olympics in 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked Tuesday January 24 to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, while Russia invaded Ukraine for eleven months.
“I particularly insisted on the fact that Russian athletes should not have their place at the Paris Olympics”, declared on Telegram Mr. Zelensky after a telephone conversation with the French head of state. Russia invaded Ukraine from its territory and that of Belarus on February 24, three days after the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Games, in violation of the Olympic Truce (which extends from one week before the start of the Olympic Games to one week after the end of the Paralympic Games).
The IOC wants to extend the sporting sanctions
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) quickly sanctioned Moscow and Minsk. Since then, no international sporting events are organized or supported in Russia or Belarus and no national symbols of these countries are displayed during a sporting event. In a New Year’s message, IOC President Thomas Bach said he wanted to see his sporting sanctions extended into 2023.
“These sanctions against Russian and Belarusian states and governments must and will remain firmly in place.”he had launched. “We want to see a strong team from (…) Ukraine at the Paris 2024 Olympics and the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics,” M. Bach had said again, recalling “the total commitment of the IOC and the entire Olympic Movement in favor of this solidarity”.