Ukraine, Sweden banned from making Russia-related political statements at EOC seminar
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik – October 01, 2022) The European Olympic Committees (EOC) banned Ukrainian and Swedish sports officials from making political statements when they tried to address Russian and Belarusian athletes during an EOC seminar in Greece via video link, the committees’ president said Spyros Capralos.
Sweden’s Peter Reinebo and Ukraine’s Alla Tarasiuk were briefly stopped by the meeting’s moderators as Capralos warned at the start of the seminar that any political statements would be “strictly prohibited. Reinebo had started quoting a joint statement from Nordic countries on the ‘unacceptability’ of letting Russian and Belarusian athletes return to international sport.
“I’m sorry, we said very clearly that it was a decision about their participation by the IOC (International Olympic Committee) board and also regarding the discussion about Russia and Belarus and Ukraine, and all the other things that have a political overtone, we will not to discuss it, and I made that very clear in my opening remarks,” Capralos was quoted as saying by sports news portal Inside the Games.
The seminar runs from Friday to Saturday.
IOC chief Thomas Bach said on Friday that Russian athletes who did not support the special military operation in Ukraine should be allowed to participate in international competitions in neutral status. The athletes who have distanced themselves from the Russian government’s decision on Ukraine should be able to compete under a neutral flag, and the IOC’s goal is to return athletes with Russian passports who do not support hostilities to participate in competitions.
The special military operation in Ukraine has prompted a slew of foreign sanctions against Russia, including its athletes. A group of 35 countries has called for even tougher sanctions on Russian and Belarusian sports associations and officials, calling for their removal from senior positions in international sports federations.
On 28 February, the IOC issued a recommendation to international sports federations to exclude athletes from Russia and Belarus from international competitions or only allow them to compete in neutral status.