German Interior Minister threatens to ban russian athletes from the Olympics and entering the country if the International Olympic Committee allows them to compete.
“Countries hosting major sporting events are not powerless. They are able to control whether Russians can actually participate by issuing visas,” Nancy Faesar said in an interview with the newspapers of the Funke Media Group.
Opening up international competitions to athletes from Russia would be “a slap in the face to Ukrainian athletes,” the minister emphasized. “To offer the war-monger Putin a propaganda stage is to betray all the values of sport,” she said.
What should be added, is if the ban on the participation of кussia and Belarus lasts until the end of 2023, their national teams will not be able to qualify for the Olympic Games. Some of the licenses have already been drawn at the 2022 World Championships, at which they did not perform. The teams will compete for the remaining places at Euro-2023. and other qualifying tournaments throughout 2023.
Tags: olympics russia ukraine war ukraine front lines
