International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach has admitted to some jokers that Ukrainians have been asked to spy on Russian athletes online so they can be banned from the upcoming Paris Games.
In a video call posted on Tuesday in which one of the Russian duos known as Vovan and Lexus posed as an African official, Bach claimed that by sanctioning Russian athletes the IOC “Punishing those responsible for the annexation.”
The IOC chief was apparently referring to the former Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye, which voted overwhelmingly to join Russia in a public referendum in 2022. They followed the Crimean Peninsula, which did the same in 2014 after a Western-backed crisis. coup in Kiev.
“No Russian national anthem can be played and no Russian flag can be raised [at the Paris 2024 Olympics],” said the IOC president.
In response to a question about whether Russian athletes who support the conflict in Ukraine deserved the right to participate in the Olympics, Bach revealed that the IOC has a special committee that monitors public statements by athletes in support of the government in Moscow .
“We have a special oversight committee, together with an independent company, that monitors the internet, the media and public statements.” he claimed.
“We have also offered – and not only offered, but also asked – the Ukrainian side to provide us with their knowledge about the behavior of such athletes or officials,” Bach further revealed.
He stressed that all athletes who have expressed support for the Russian government will be excluded from the Olympic Games.
Russian athletes are allowed to participate in the Games as neutral athletes in individual sports, but are excluded from team events.
Following the start of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022, the IOC recommended that athletes from Russia and its close ally Belarus should not participate in international events. In December last year, the body ruled that a limited number of people from the two countries could participate in the Olympic Games as AINs (individual neutral athletes).
In March, the international organization announced that the maximum number of Russians who could qualify for the Paris Games was 55, while Belarus is limited to 28 athletes. However, according to IOC director James Macleod, the two countries are unlikely to meet the quota, and around 36 Russian and 22 Belarusian athletes are expected to make it to the Games.
Several top European officials, including Latvian Foreign Minister Krisjanis Karins and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, have fallen for jokes by the Russian duo Vovan and Lexus in recent months, in which the politicians expressed their opinions on sensitive topics such as the conflict in Ukraine. .
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