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Britain and other major Olympic nations unite to demand that Russian athletes be BANNED from competing in Paris 2024 with culture secretary Lucy Frazer holding an emergency summit
- Great Britain has demanded that Russian athletes be allowed to participate in Paris 2024
- 36 nations have united to see Russia banned from competing in the Olympics
- Ukraine has threatened to boycott the event if the Russian team participates
- The emergency meeting was chaired by culture secretary Lucy Frazer on Friday.
Britain and other major Olympic nations have joined in demanding that Russian athletes be excluded from Paris 2024 during an emergency summit on Friday.
Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer chaired the 36-nation gathering that was called after the International Olympic Committee opened the door for Russians and Belarusians to compete in next year’s Games as neutrals despite Ukraine’s war.
After the summit, it was claimed that “most voices”, including the Olympic powers of Britain, the US, Canada, Germany and Australia, agreed to ban Russian athletes.
However, Poland’s sports minister Kamil Bortniczuk added that hosts France, as well as Greece and Japan, were ‘the exception’.
A formal collective statement is scheduled to follow Friday’s meeting, which was opened by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose country has threatened to boycott Paris if the Russians participate.
Culture secretary Lucy Frazer chaired the meeting where Britain and other Olympic nations demanded that athletes from Russia be banned.
36 nations came together to declare that Russia and Belarus should not be represented at the Olympic Games
Frazer tweeted: “It was a very productive meeting between 36 nations, and I made the UK position very clear: as long as Putin continues his barbaric war, Russia and Belarus must not be represented at the Olympics.”
Lithuanian sports minister Jurgita Siugzdiniene said: “We are going in the direction that we don’t need a boycott because all countries are unanimous.”
A proposal to allow Russian and Belarusian dissidents to be part of a refugee team is understood to have been tabled at the meeting.