Ukraine has condemned the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) efforts to bring Russian athletes back into the world of sports while Moscow continues its war in Ukraine, writes Politico.
The IOC announced last week that it had provisionally lifted the ban on the Russian Olympic Committee, thus lifting restrictions that had been in place since the start of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. This opens the door for Russians to return to the Olympics.
Ukraine’s Sports Minister Matvey Bidnyi said that the IOC is thus serving as a valve to relieve pressure on Russia. Bidnyi, a former bodybuilder, said he had no answer for the question of why the ban should be lifted now: “Undermining the collective pressure that the international community has been building against the aggressor … it’s not a very honorable role for this organization.”
The IOC said that the lifting of the ban did not mean a change in attitude towards the war, which it still condemns. The ban was lifted because the Russian Olympic Committee had excluded sports organizations operating in the occupied territories of Ukraine from participation, which was the basis for the committee’s sanctioning. Meanwhile, Bidnyi said that the IOC had fallen for a primitive legal trick, and that Russia had simply restructured the committee to circumvent the IOC’s sanctions.
Ukraine believes that the IOC understands this very well, and
therefore made a deliberate decision that ignores reality and completely destroys the organization’s credibility.
Moscow has regularly used sports to maintain representation in Western institutions despite widespread diplomatic isolation. Russia uses its influence in the world of chess and fencing organizations, and is trying to ensure that Russian athletes gradually return to international competitions.
European sports ministers have reacted angrily to the IOC’s decision, with ministers from nine countries – Finland, Sweden, Estonia, the Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Denmark – calling on the European Union to withdraw its funding for the Olympics. Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal told Politico that sports and politics cannot be separated because Russia continues to use sports as a propaganda tool. He said it was wrong to pretend that sports exist in a vacuum and have nothing to do with the brutal war. Allowing Russia to return to the international sporting stage would send the wrong message, trivialize the suffering of the Ukrainian people and risk normalizing Russian aggression.
The IOC has not yet decided whether to allow the use of the Russian flag and anthem at future Olympic events. Bidnyi said the IOC’s decision has already encouraged other sports organizations, including the International Handball Federation, to ease sanctions against Russia. He added that the consequences of the decision are already visible, and diplomatic work has become more complicated.
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