MOSCOW, March 23, Andrey Simonenko. Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin is sure that world sport cannot exist without Russian athletes. On Wednesday, the head of the department held a meeting with the heads of sports federations. «We continue the dialogue with international federations, we hope that the period of sanctions will not be long. There can be no world sport without Russia,» Matytsin told reporters .At the end of February, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended that international sports federations not allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in international competitions due to the situation around Russia and Ukraine. A number of international federations excluded Russians and Belarusians from competitions under their auspices. Other federations allowed athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete in a neutral status.
