Андрей Сибига. Фото: МИД Украины
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that amid Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine there can be no talk of easing restrictions on Russian and Belarusian athletes. He wrote this on X on the opening day of the Winter Olympic Games in Italy.
According to him, the competitions hold special significance for Ukrainian athletes, as their preparation took place amid a full-scale war, strikes on energy infrastructure, and the destruction of sports facilities. He stressed that more than 650 Ukrainian athletes and coaches have been killed during the war, and more than 800 sports facilities destroyed, including around 20 Olympic, Paralympic, and Deaflympic training centers.
“In the context of the largest aggressive war in Europe since World War II, which is now raging on the same continent where the Olympic Games are being held, there can be no talk of easing restrictions on Russian and Belarusian athletes,” the Ukrainian foreign minister said.
Together with Ukraine’s Minister of Youth and Sports Matvii Bidnyi, he called on international sports organizations and officials “to remain principled and to maintain all relevant restrictions.”
“Russia is the main violator of international sports norms and the Olympic Charter. Over the past two decades, it has launched invasions three times during the Olympic truce and carried out an unprecedented state-sponsored doping campaign.
Sport is an integral part of Russian military propaganda, directly linked to the Russian armed forces. At the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, 28 of Russia’s 32 medals were won by Russian athletes who are also active-duty members of the Russian army,” he said.
“We stand for the integrity and neutrality of international sport, free from state propaganda and abuse — which is precisely why Russia and Belarus must be excluded from international sport,” the minister added.