MOSCOW, March 1 Two-time Olympic figure skating champion Evgeni Plushenko called sanctions applied to Russian athletes due to the situation in Ukraine, «inadequate and politicized.» The Executive Committee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Monday recommended that sports federations not allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete. The IOC added that athletes and teams from Russia and Belarus can only compete as neutral athletes.
"You can’t mix sports with politics, you can’t punish athletes and deprive them of the right to compete, as they do now. This is discrimination and a gross violation of the rights of athletes. The sanctions that are applied to the representatives of Russia in sports are inadequate and politicized. If our athletes do not compete at international competitions, victories will be depreciated, because the strongest in many sports will stay at home", Plushenko wrote on Instagram.
«Everyone wants peace, I want it. I really hope that everything will be over as soon as possible, the negotiations will bear fruit. I believe our president! I am not a politician, I am an athlete, my goal is to unite people through love for the sport, overcoming political differences. I am sure that we will all manage, «added the former skater. On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he had decided on a special military operation of the Russian Federation to demilitarize Ukraine. In a televised address to the Russians, he said that the circumstances «require decisive and immediate action from us, the people's republics of Donbass turned to Russia with a request for help.» On February 21, Putin signed decrees recognizing the sovereignty of the LPR and the DPR.