Ukraine will launch an international campaign to ban Russian athletes from participating in next year’s Olympic Games in Paris, according to the country’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.
speaking during their daily address Late on 27 January, the Ukrainian leader said that Russian athletes should be barred from participating in next year’s Games, even under a neutral flag. He said the Olympics should not be used to allow the Kremlin to re-enter the international order.
“We are launching a marathon of honesty, which will aim to cleanse the leadership of the international Olympic structure of hypocrisy and [preventing] Zelensky said, any attempt to bring representatives of the terrorist state to the World Games.
His comments come days after the International Olympic Committee, which oversees global sporting competition, reaffirmed his commitment Both Russian and Belarusian athletes will be able to compete, despite strong protests from Ukraine.
“No athlete should be prevented from competing simply because of their passport,” the group said in a statement.
Zelensky spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this week to confirm Ukraine’s desire that Russia not participate in next year’s Paris Olympics, according to a post by the Ukrainian leader on Telegram, encrypted online. messaging service.
Zelensky also invited International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach to visit the war-torn city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine to see the humanitarian effects of Russia’s ongoing offensive.
Ukraine’s president is also expected to appear at an upcoming concert in Italy next month, although some local politicians criticized his participation amid ongoing skepticism within Italy about the war in Eastern Europe.
The country’s deputy prime minister and right-wing politician Matteo Salvini said, “I expect songs from the Italian Song Festival, nothing else.” Told According to local media, Reuters.