Russian Olympic Committee (COR) president Stanislav Pozdniakov on Friday denounced attempts by some countries to trick Russian athletes into changing their citizenship to compete in international competitions.
“That includes attempts to encourage Russian athletes to change their citizenship in various ways, tempting them with dubious promises,” Pozdniakov said, according to the TASS agency.
He recalled that most of these athletes will not be able to participate in the Olympic Games in the coming years without the approval of the COR.
Pozdniakov linked the practice to the decision to exclude Russian athletes from international competitions because of the Russian military campaign in Ukraine, which he viewed as a “sham” akin to a “puppet theatre”.
In particular, he criticized the decision to divide the athletes based on the passport they hold, as Russians and Belarusians can only compete neutrally according to the International Olympic Committee.
This week, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed to his government that the BRICS Games (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) be organized in 2024 as an alternative to the Olympic Games.
The initiative comes from the Minister of Sports, Oleg Matitsin, who also proposed in March to host the first Games of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which includes countries such as China, India, Pakistan and the Central Asian republics.
In recent months, Russia has devoted itself to rallying support to defend its participation in the Paris Olympics, despite Ukraine and many Western countries opposing it over Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine.
Recently, both the Association of Olympic Committees of Asia and Africa have approved the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the Paris Olympic Games.
The IOC in March approved the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes as neutral, but rejected that of national teams and athletes supporting the war or belonging to clubs linked to the military and security forces, such as CSKA Moscow.
According to Matitsin, if Russian athletes participate in the qualifying rounds of their respective disciplines and the IOC conditions do not change significantly, “the maximum number of participants from the Russian side will be about 180 athletes.”
Source: El heraldo

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