MOSCOW, Oct 26 International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) President Morinari Watanabe spoke in defense of the decision to allow representatives of Russia and Belarus to participate in the congress of the organization and called for listening to the views of all parties. Earlier, the decision to boycott the FIG congress, which is to be held on November 11-12 in Istanbul (Turkey), was made by the gymnastics federations of Norway, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Italy and the Netherlands.» When you are elected a member of an international organization, your position is not related to your country of origin. In essence, you are in a neutral position. If this basic policy is not respected, international organizations cannot exist. That is why neither the UN nor the IOC excluded Russia and Belarus.First of all, international organizations should make efforts to maintain, not terminate relations with Russia and Belarus.As an international organization FIG will convey our views to their Russian and Belarusian officials. And we, FIG, should also listen to their opinion,» Watanabe was quoted by the Inside the Games portal. Watanabe noted that after the situation in Ukraine is resolved, all national federations «should become one team again to create a brighter future.» Initially, the congress was supposed to take place in October in Sandefjord (Norway), but the FIG reported that the Norwegian Gymnastics Federation was unable to organize it due to the requirements from the Olympic Committee and the Ministry of Culture of Norway not to invite representatives of Russia and Belarus to the forum. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) in at the end of February recommended to sports federations not to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in competitions due to the situation in Ukraine.In March, Russian athletes were suspended by FIG from international competitions due to the situation in Ukraine.
