Ukraine’s Zelensky presses drive to keep Russia out of 2024 Paris Olympics
- Ukraine’s president repeated his demand that Russia be excluded from next year’s Olympic Games in Paris
- The IOC is exploring ways in which Russians and Belarusians can participate in the 2024 Games
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that allowing Russia to compete at the 2024 Paris Games was tantamount to showing that “terror is somehow acceptable”.
Zelensky said he had sent a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron as part of his campaign to keep Russian athletes out of the Paris Games.
“Attempts by the International Olympic Committee to bring Russian athletes back into the Olympic Games are attempts to tell the whole world that terror is somehow acceptable,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address.
“As if you could shut your eyes to what Russia is doing in Kherson, Kharkiv, Bakhmut and Avdiivka,” he said, referring to areas that have been under fire from Russian forces.
Russia, he said, must not be allowed to “use (the Games) or any other sport event as propaganda for its aggression or its state chauvinism”.
The International Olympic Committee said last week that it welcomed a proposal from the Olympic Council of Asia for Russian and Belarusian athletes the chance to compete in Asia.
