Polish authorities have defended Friday the possibility of «boycotting» the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympic Games if the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allows Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate.
This was stated by the vice-president of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pavel Jablonsky, in line with what senior officials of the Ukrainian government, such as the president himself, Volodimir Zelenski, and other partners of Kiev, such as Latvia, have been demanding for weeks.
«My personal opinion is that if athletes from Russia and Belarus were admitted to the Games in 2024, then we should boycott these Games, they should not participate. This is the pressure we should put on the International Olympic Committee,» Yablonsky said in an interview for Polish radio RMF.
Yablonsky assured that the Russian and Belarusian presidents, Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko, respectively, use sport to strengthen their support bases. Therefore, limiting the participation of athletes «is a way to counter Russian propaganda».
Although he specified that any decision about Poland’s role in sports competitions must be taken by the country’s organizations, which operate independently of the government, the authorities, he warned, will put pressure on them to also decide to boycott the next Olympic Games in Paris.
Since the IOC’s intention to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in the Paris Games under a neutral flag was made public, Zelenski has accused the top Olympic body of collaborationism with Moscow, warning of the possibility of a boycott, a threat that has been joined by the main partners of Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic countries.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
