Russia, Belarus invited to Asian Games despite fierce objections from Ukraine

Russia’s path to sending a team to next year’s Paris Olympics became clearer on Thursday amid fierce protests from Ukraine.

The International Olympic Committee indicated on Wednesday that it has selected an official neutral team from Russia and its ally Belarus at the 2024 Olympics despite calls from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy not to include them altogether.

A day later, Russia and Belarus were invited to participate in the Asian Games, the main Olympic qualifiers.

Zelenskyy said he told French President Emmanuel Macron, whose country is hosting the Olympics, that Russia should have “no place” there. Ukraine is seeking to rally support for the IOC-brokered plan.

“The IOC has ignored Russia’s war crimes, stating that ‘No athlete should be prevented from competing just because of passports’, while Ukrainian athletes continue to be killed by Russia because of passports,” foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter on Thursday.

Ukraine boycotted the Olympic qualifiers in judo last year while Russia was allowed to compete as a neutral.

Mixed reaction in Europe

In Russia, there was praise for the IOC’s approach from Igor Levitin, an aide to President Vladimir Putin who holds influential government and sports posts.

“I have succeeded. The Olympic community knows that the Olympics cannot take place without Russia,” said Levitin, who is the senior vice president of the Russian Olympic Committee, in comments reported by the state news agency Tass.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said she supports Russia to be a neutral athlete when her city hosts the Olympics, without the Russian flag.

“I think it’s time for the athletes and you shouldn’t remove the athletes from the competition. But I and I ask, like a large part of the sports movement, there is no delegation behind the Russian banner,” he said. to France 2 television.

“Of course the Games take place at a geopolitical time. I hope the war in Ukraine will be behind us when we welcome the Paris Games.”

There was no immediate response from the French government, although other European countries criticized the IOC. British culture secretary Michelle Donelan said the IOC’s stance was “a world away from the reality of the war experienced by the Ukrainian people.” In Germany, interior minister Nancy Faeser called it “the wrong way.”

Precedent from 1992

The IOC’s statement on Wednesday referred to the civil war in the former Yugoslavia surrounding the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. The country was under United Nations sanctions so Yugoslav athletes were allowed to compete individually only as “Independent Olympic Participants.” They do not participate in team sports such as football and basketball.

It will be stricter than previous IOC measures against Russia in the years since one of the biggest doping cases in sports history. Russia competed as “Olympic Athletes from Russia” at the 2018 Winter Olympics and as the ROC in 2021 and 2022, without a national anthem or flag but wearing uniforms in national colors.

The Asian Games will be held in Hangzhou, China, in September and October, and are Olympic qualifiers in several sports including archery and boxing. Several other sports host qualifying competitions specifically for Asia.

Kuwait-based OCA director general Husain al-Musallam is also president of World Aquatics, which oversees the core Olympic sport of swimming in the IOC’s hometown of Lausanne.

“The OCA has given the opportunity to eligible Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in competitions in Asia, including the Asian Games,” the organization said.

The OCA added that it “remains on standby” until the IOC and individual sports governing bodies finalize the requirements for Russia and Belarus to compete.