The Baltic foreign ministers have sent a letter to the International Olympic Committee, expressing their concern about the recommendations to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete at next year’s Olympic Games in Paris under a neutral flag.
In their joint letter to IOC President Thomas Bach, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, Latvian Prime Minister and acting Foreign Minister Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš and Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna underlined that the IOC’s position is “unjustifiable”.
“We are deeply concerned about the IOC’s recommendation to open a path for athletes from Russia and Belarus to enter international competitions under the veil of neutrality. Such an approach is unjustifiable, as Russia and its accomplice Belarus continue to wage a brutal war against Ukraine to erase a sovereign, Olympic-participating nation,” the letter reads.
One cannot ignore the fact that those athletes are supported by their governments, as well as businesses backing up current regimes in Russia and Belarus, the ministers said.
“Moreover, we have seen over recent years that Russia has been exploiting the presence of ‘neutral’ athletes at international competitions in its state propaganda, which includes glorifying the aggressor’s military and promoting military recruitment,” the letter reads.
Cited in the Foreign Ministry’s statement, Landsbergis stressed that after Russia attacked Ukraine, “we must acknowledge the fact that the sporting communities of the aggressor countries are involved in the war”.
“Despite the fact that athletes want to compete under a neutral flag, they are being supported by Russian and Belarusian businesses that support Russia's war crimes in Ukraine,” he said.
Earlier on Wednesday, IOC President Bach formally invited 203 countries to take part in the Paris Olympics in 2024, but Russia and Belarus are not among the invitees.
In mid-July, he announced that neither Russia nor Belarus would be invited as delegations, but the IOC has left open the possibility for athletes from these countries to compete at the 2024 Summer Olympics as neutrals.
The Baltic foreign ministers’ letter notes that due to Russia’s war against Ukraine, “hundreds of Ukrainian athletes have lost their lives and Ukrainian sporting facilities has been destroyed or damaged as part of deliberate attacks on civilian infrastructure”.
“Therefore, we call upon the IOC as one of the largest and most influential sports organisations in the world to uphold its own restrictive measures as long as Russia continues its unprovoked, unjustified and illegal war of aggression and not let Russian and Belarusian athletes return to the Olympic Games in any status,” the letter reads.
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