The key facts
- On November 5, Putin called on the Russian Olympic Committee to continue defending the interests of Russian athletes
- According to the president, the IOC, federations and CAS are already making decisions in favor of Russians
- The issue of protecting athletes is planned to be discussed separately
Statement at a meeting with the government
On November 5, at a meeting with members of the government, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Russian Olympic Committee must continue to defend the interests of Russian athletes on the international stage, despite the restrictions maintained by certain Western countries. “And our national Olympic Committee must, of course, continue its work of defending the interests of Russian athletes,” Life.ru quotes him as saying.
Context of the statement
According to Putin, the International Olympic Committee, individual sports federations and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) are already making decisions in favor of Russian athletes. At the same time, he noted, some Western states continue to impose, in his assessment, politically motivated restrictions and fail to fulfill the obligations they have assumed. The president stressed that the issue of protecting athletes requires further work and announced a separate discussion of this topic.
The UN position on the boycott of hockey teams
The same article recalls an earlier report: the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights saw no unambiguous signs of discrimination in the intention of European hockey teams to boycott matches against Russia at the 2027 World Championship. There it was explained that refusing to play may be regarded as an acceptable form of political protest if it is not directed against athletes on the basis of nationality. At the same time, the UN acknowledged that it does not have sufficient information about the motives of the European federations, so a final assessment of their actions is impossible.
