MINSK, Oct 13The Minister of Sports and Tourism of Belarus Sergei Kovalchuk said that at present, international sports officials put politics above sports. What is it intended for?Sport is needed in order to unite people… In my understanding, people who today run big-time sports have mixed up something in this life: instead of uniting people and making sports a platform for friendship, they intervene there politics,” the minister said, speaking at the plenary session of the international congress “Values, traditions and innovations in modern sports” in Minsk. He said that “sport without athletes of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation in many sports is physical education.” Kovalchuk noted the importance of continuing the development of cooperation between Belarus and Russia in the field of sports and physical culture, especially given the restrictions applied to athletes of the two countries m. «A great value is not just interaction, but friendship in sports between our countries. Previously, the collegiums of the Ministry of Sports of Belarus and Russia were held every two years, but today — every three months. We see a positive trend in bilateral relations. For an athlete, the main thing is competitive practice, good competition, a platform and worthy remuneration. And we are really moving in this direction,» the minister said, urging his Russian colleagues to organize joint competitions. «We are self-sufficient states. to develop and support their sport,” said the head of the Belarusian Ministry of Sports. At the end of February, the International Olympic Committee recommended that sports federations not allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in competitions due to the situation in Ukraine. Most federations have followed this recommendation.
