Poland's Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, stated on Wednesday that the International Olympic Committee's recommendation to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in the Olympics as neutral competitors is a "shameful" decision. He mentioned that his country will be forming a coalition to demand a reversal of this stance. In a press conference, Morawiecki said, "We will establish a coalition of countries and together we will demand that the IOC withdraw this bad and wrong decision."
In a meeting with Reuters, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov viewed such recommendations as containing discriminatory elements, which he deemed unacceptable, adding that they would continue to defend the interests of Russian athletes by all possible means. In this context, the Ukrainian ministry issued a statement condemning the IOC's partial change of position regarding the acceptance of athletes from Russia and Belarus. The statement read, "We have consistently defended and will continue to insist that under the circumstances of unprecedented military aggression by Russia, supported by Belarus, against Ukraine, which contradicts the principles of the Olympic Charter, representatives of the aggressor countries should not exist in international sports arenas."
Meanwhile, the President of the IOC, Thomas Bach, noted on Tuesday that it would be up to international sports federations to decide which athletes from Russia and Belarus may participate as neutrals, meaning they would compete without their flags or national anthem. Athletes from Russia and Belarus were banned from competitions last year due to the war in Ukraine, but the rules announced at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne aim to gradually allow their return to global sports.
