Kremlin cronies holding senior Olympic positions “is an official recognition of Russia’s triumph against international law,” Lithuanian PM told POLITICO.
Less than three weeks out from the start of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee is facing a backlash for keeping Russians in its top ranks.
Shamil Tarpischev and Yelena Isinbaeva, who have been members of the IOC from 1994 and 2016 respectively, have come under particular scrutiny for their links to the Kremlin regime.
The IOC’s refusal to boot the Russians has triggered outrage among Kyiv’s allies, as Moscow’s war on Ukraine grinds menacingly on.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The IOC’s refusal to boot the Russians has triggered outrage among Kyiv’s allies, as Moscow’s war on Ukraine grinds menacingly on.
While she has insisted the rank is nominal, prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine she was an active campaigner for Putin in multiple presidential elections.
IOC rules recommend that athletes and sports officials affiliated with the Russian army not be permitted to take part in the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The IOC did not respond to a new request for comment from POLITICO, but a spokesperson previously said that the IOC’s Ethics Commission understands that, since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, “neither Ms. [Isinbaeva] nor Mr. Tarpischev have had any contractual links with the Russian military or security agencies nor expressed their support to the invasion or the war in Ukraine.”
“They need to be excluded,” Zhan Beleniuk, a Ukrainian wrestler, Olympic champion and MP for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s party told POLITICO.
“Russian citizens are agents of hybrid influence in international organizations,” Matviy Bidnyi, the temporary acting minister of youth and sports of Ukraine, told POLITICO.
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