Poland and the Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) will oppose the presence of Russian and Belarusian athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympics, even under a neutral flag, Latvia’s foreign minister said on Tuesday.
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Last week, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) angered Ukraine by proposing a roadmap to organize the return of banned neutral-flag athletes, provided they “did not actively support the war in Ukraine.”
Kyiv immediately accused the Olympic body of “sponsoring the war” and threatened to boycott the Paris Games if Russians attend.
On Tuesday, Latvian diplomatic chief Edgars Rinkevics commented on the debate: “The decision to allow Russians and Belarusians to take part in the next games is immoral and wrong,” he tweeted on the sidelines of a meeting in Riga with his Poles, Lithuanians and Estonian colleagues .
Through the voice of its President Zorzs Tikmer, the Latvian Olympic Committee has already threatened to boycott the Olympic Games: “Latvia will not take part in the Games alongside the aggressor country,” he said.
Polish Sports Minister Kamil Bortniczuk said last week that he “cannot imagine” the possibility of Russians and Belarusians taking part in the Olympic Games.
In Estonia, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said Monday that letting the Russians serve “would be a mockery of Ukrainians and the tens of thousands of them who died in Europe’s worst crimes against humanity since World War II.”
The Lithuanian education minister, who will meet with her Latvian and Estonian sports counterparts, also indicated that she would urge them to call for the exclusion of Russians and Belarusians.
Taken over by the armies of the Reich by the Soviets at the end of World War II, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were annexed by the USSR and remained an integral part of it until its dissolution in 1990.
Poland lived under a Moscow-controlled communist regime until 1989.