Lithuanian Parliament Speaker Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen has drafted a resolution calling on the international community to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from the Olympic Games and other international competitions.
Almost 60 members of the Lithuanian parliament, Seimas, supported her initiative.
“We plan that this resolution will be adopted in the spring session,” Čmilytė-Nielsen posted on Facebook on Wednesday.
The session is scheduled to open on March 10.
The draft resolution calls for restricting the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials in the Olympics and other international competitions until Russia ends its military aggression against Ukraine, withdraws its forces from Ukraine’s internationally recognised territory, ensures accountability for its crimes of aggression and war crimes, fully compensates for the damages inflicted on Ukraine.
“It is indeed a pity that the international community or even organisations such as the International Olympic Committee still have to be convinced that Russia must now become a country that can only be reached out to for one purpose – to serve a summons to the international tribunal,” Čmilytė-Nielsen said.
President Gitanas Nausėda has said that Lithuania should very seriously consider to boycott the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris if Russian and Belarusian athletes are allowed to compete.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) suggested in late January that Russians and Belarusians should be allowed to participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics as “neutral athletes”.
“No athlete should be prevented from competing just because of their passport,” it said in a statement.
In a joint statement at the end of February, the sports ministers of Lithuania and 33 other countries called on the IOC to reconsider its decision.
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