The Lithuanian state will not provide funding for competitions involving Russian and Belarusian athletes, the Education, Science and Sport Ministry has said.
Education, Science and Sport Minister Jurgita Šiugždinienė signed the respective documents on Tuesday.
The minister also plans to sign a joint memorandum with the Lithuanian National Olympic Committee and sports federations and organisations on the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in international competitions.
“We agreed to work out a joint position paper to be circulated to all international federations and the International Olympic Committee (IOC),” Šiugždinienė said in a press release. “Together, we must do everything possible to keep Russian and Belarusian athletes out of international sport while the aggression in Ukraine continues.”
The memorandum will express Lithuania’s strong opposition to the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in international competitions and the Olympic Games.
The minister also urged Lithuanian sports federations to form coalitions with their foreign partners and to express their common positions to the IOC and international sports federations.
Šiugždinienė said that the majority of Lithuanian sports federations have decided not to participate in competitions involving Russian and Belarusian athletes, in line with the ministry’s recommendations.
Russians and Belarusians are looking for loopholes to get into the Olympics, according to the ministry.
Lithuanian Parliament Speaker Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen has also drafted a parliamentary resolution calling on the international community to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from the Olympic Games and other international competitions.
The resolution will be submitted to the parliament during the first plenary sitting of the spring session on Friday.
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