WARSAW, 3 February – RIA Novosti. If athletes from Poland, Russia and Belarus participate, they should boycott the 2024 Olympic Games, declaration Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski added that Warsaw therefore “must put pressure on the IOC”.

“That’s the pressure we need to put on the International Olympic Committee,” he said.

The Deputy Minister also stressed that he expressed his personal opinion. “This is my opinion, sports associations will make their own decisions as they are independent of the government. I will invite everyone to take such a decision (boycott the Olympic Games – ed.),” he said.

The Executive Committee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) called for the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international competitions with neutral status on January 25, while recommending that athletes who actively support special operations in Ukraine should not be allowed. In response, Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, accused the Lausanne-based organization of inciting violence and destruction and bribing Russia. The IOC described the accusations as defamatory.

After that, the sports ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland called for the athletes from Russia and Belarus not to be admitted to the 2024 Olympic Games in a joint statement addressed to the International Olympic Committee.

Western countries have increased their sanctions pressure on the Russian Federation due to Ukraine, and an unprecedented level of Russian hostility has been recorded in some foreign countries. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, attacks on Russians and Russian-speaking citizens affect Russian students, athletes, cultural and artistic workers. The President of the Russian Federation said that Western Russian hostility is nothing but racism.