Bulgaria’s Sports Minister Radostin Vassilev and Hungary’s are the only ones in the EU who did not support a common position calling for the suspension of the rights of athletes from Russia and Belarus because of the war in Ukraine, reported imsidethegames.biz.
The general position is of 35 sports ministers, including 25 of the EU member states. The position calls for international sports federations to suspend the rights of Russia and Belarus because of the war.
The group of ministers demands that everyone connected to the power of Russia and Belarus be immediately removed from the positions they hold in the sports organizations. Especially those in positions of influence.
International federations and other competition organizers have been asked to terminate all television rights contracts on the territory of Russia and Belarus.
This position echoes the resolution that was adopted in March by 37 countries.
In it, they called for Russia and Belarus to be stripped of all hosting competitions under the auspices of international federations, to ban Russians and Belarusians from participating in competitions abroad, and to take steps to “restrict sponsorship by legal entities associated with Russia and Belarus”.
Hungary and Switzerland signed the declaration in March but did not endorse the position. EU member Bulgaria is also absent from the group.
The new common position builds on a March resolution in which Russians and Belarusians were allowed to compete, but without national flags, symbols and anthems, and to ensure their neutrality towards Russian and Belarusian politics.
The United States, Japan, Norway, the United Kingdom, Liechtenstein, Iceland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Republic of Korea supported the new position. Among the EU members, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.
Or four of the confirmed Olympic hosts – France, Italy, USA and Australia – enter the group.
International federations are urged to show solidarity with Ukraine and help rebuild the Ukrainian sports structure wherever possible.
Athletes from Russia and Belarus were generally suspended from many competitions after the start of the war.
The International Olympic Committee has recommended to international federations to ban athletes from Russia and Belarus from competitions for violating the Olympic peace.
Many international federations have banned Russia and Belarus, but others such as tennis and judo still allow them to compete as neutral competitors.
The organizers of “Wimbledon” banned Russians and Belarusians from playing in contradiction to the position of the International Tennis Federation, which gives a neutral status and because of this the tournament will not give points for the world ranking.
IOC president Thomas Bach criticized Wimbledon’s stance, lambasting government pressure and demanding international federations work out their response to the crisis or risk “becoming political puppets”.
Bach also insisted on a common framework for banning Russian and Belarusian athletes. At the same time, the IOC has not suspended the rights of the national Olympic committees of the two countries or taken any measures against its members from Russia.
Russia and Belarus continue to participate quite actively in sports life. They took part in a congress of FIFA, the International Skating Union, the boxing and weightlifting federations. And boxing re-elected Umar Kremyov as president, despite the instructions of the IOC.
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