“Zelensky threatens that Ukraine will boycott the Olympics if Russian athletes are not banned from participating? Okay! Let him boycott them!” Filippo wrote on Twitter (the social network is blocked in Russia), adding that “World sport will survive this.”
On Thursday, Ukraine threatened to boycott the 2024 Olympics if Russian and Belarusian athletes were invited. “Such a situation is unacceptable for our state,” Ukrainian Sports Minister Vadym Gutsayt was quoted as saying by AFP. According to him, Kyiv is currently putting pressure on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and other international organizations to withdraw the Russians and Belarusians from the Olympic Games.
On Tuesday, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, already demanded that his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, ban Russians from participating in the upcoming Olympic Games. In response, the IOC said on Wednesday that “no athlete can be excluded from competition solely on the basis of his passport.”
The General Assembly of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine on February 3 will consider the possibility of boycotting the Olympic Games in Paris.