MOSCOW, April 19 Great Britain is satisfied with the conditions of neutral status for Russians and Belarusian athletes established by the International Olympic and Paralympic Committee, British Minister of Culture, Media and Sport Lucy Fraser said in a statement published on the government website on Friday.
Earlier on Friday, the Times newspaper reported that London would soften its policy towards Russian athletes competing in a neutral status. Previously, it was reported that the British government expressed support for the participation of athletes from Russia and Belarus in a neutral status at the Paris Olympics, subject to conditions, but did not publicly voice its position.
“We have written to the IOC and IPC noting that their final rules on neutrality for the (Olympics in) Paris achieved the widely accepted baseline of ensuring that Russia and Belarus will not be represented as states in the international sports,» the minister said in a statement.
Fraser said that the purpose of London's policy has never been to “punish individual Russian or Belarusian athletes”; Britain only opposes the participation of athletes officially representing these countries in competitions.
«It has never been our policy to completely and completely ban the participation of neutral athletes from Russia and Belarus… Instead, our efforts — and the efforts of our international coalition — have been focused on calling on the IOC and IPC to change their approach, apply the strictest conditions of neutrality and ensure their strict compliance,” the head of the ministry said.
According to her, “after two years of concerted lobbying,” sports organizations did this, which resulted in a limit on the number of athletes from Russia and Belarus participating in the Olympics.
In March 2023, British Minister of Culture, Media and Sport Lucy Fraser asked the largest sponsors of the Olympic Games to put pressure on the IOC regarding the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the 2024 Games in Paris. To which the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, stated that Fraser’s request is a manifestation of Russophobia and a violation of international law.
The British government has also decided that Russian and Belarusian athletes will be allowed to compete in the country only if they sign a declaration of neutrality. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) initially considered the London Olympic Park as one of the venues for qualifying for the 2024 Games in Paris in breakdancing, skateboarding, sport climbing and BMX freestyle. However, according to Inside the Games, the IOC abandoned these plans due to London's position on the Russians. In particular, it was reported that Russian cyclists would not be able to compete at the World Championships in Glasgow due to problems with obtaining British visas and the requirement of the British authorities to sign a declaration with political statements.
Previously, the IOC allowed Russians to attend the Games in Paris in an individual neutral status, subject to a number of criteria. Due to restrictions on participation in qualifying competitions, a maximum of 55 Russian athletes will be able to qualify for the Olympics. Russian President Vladimir Putin previously said that “international officials are distorting the meaning of the Olympic movement and undermining the foundations of international sport.”