Ukraine claims International Olympic Committee is 'promoter of war'

Ukraine accuses International Olympic Committee of being a ‘promoter of war, murder and destruction’ after sports body said it was considering ways for Russian athletes to compete

• Ukrainian Presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak accused the IOC of offering Russia a ‘platform to promote genocide’ and ‘encouraging their further killings’
• IOC said it was looking into ‘pathway’ for Russians to take part in Paris Games

Ukraine today accused the International Olympic Committee of being a ‘promoter of war, murder and destruction’ after the sports body said it was considering ways for Russian athletes to compete in the 2024 Paris Games.

Ukrainian Presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak accused the IOC of offering Russia a ‘platform to promote genocide’ and ‘encouraging their further killings’.

His scathing comments came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that allowing Russia to compete at the 2024 Paris Games was tantamount to showing that ‘terror is somehow acceptable’.

Podolyak today tweeted: ‘The IOC is a promoter of war, murder and destruction. 

Pictured: Olympic rings to celebrate the IOC official announcement that Paris won the 2024 Olympic bid are seen in front of the Eiffel Tower at the Trocadero square in Paris, France,

‘The IOC watches with pleasure Russia destroying Ukraine and then offers Russia a platform to promote genocide and encourages their further killings.’

‘Obviously Russian money that buys Olympic hypocrisy doesn’t have a smell of Ukrainian blood. Right, Mr. Bach?’ Podolyak added referring to IOC president Thomas Bach.

The IOC has faced a backlash from Ukraine after it said last week it was looking into a ‘pathway’ for Russians to take part, including as neutral athletes.

Russia and its ally Belarus have been sidelined from most Olympic sports since Russian forces invaded Ukraine last February. 

Zelensky said on Sunday that allowing Russia to compete in the 2024 Games would amount to showing that ‘terror is somehow acceptable’.

Zelensky said on Sunday that allowing Russia to compete in the 2024 Games would amount to showing that ‘terror is somehow acceptable’. Pictured: Zelensky with IOC President Thomas Bach in Kyiv on July 3, 2022

‘Attempts by the International Olympic Committee to bring Russian athletes back into the Olympic Games are attempts to tell the whole world that terror is somehow acceptable,’ Zelensky said in his nightly video address on Sunday. 

‘As if it is possible to turn a blind eye to what Russia is doing to Kherson, to Kharkiv, to Bakhmut and Avdiivka,’ Zelensky said, referring to cities under constant Russian attacks.

Russia, he said, must not be allowed to ‘use (the Games) or any other sport event as propaganda for its aggression or its state chauvinism’. 

Zelensky added that he sent a letter to President Emmanuel Macron on the matter following a phone call with the French leader last week.

‘We must be sure that Russia will not be able to use it (the Olympics) or any other international sporting event to promote aggression or its state chauvinism,’ he said.

Ukraine’s Sports Minister Vadym Goutzeit has warned his country could boycott the summer Olympics next year if Russian and Belarusian athletes are allowed to take part.

Zelensky added that he sent a letter to President Emmanuel Macron (pictured together in June 2022) on the matter following a phone call with the French leader last week 

The International Olympic Committee said last week that it welcomed a proposal from the Olympic Council of Asia for Russian and Belarusian athletes the chance to compete in Asia.

Zelensky spoke to Macron last week and has since launched a ‘marathon of honesty’ to keep Russian athletes out of the Paris Games. 

On Saturday, he said there could be no neutrality in sports at a time when his country’s athletes fight and die in war.

In his latest comments, Zelenskiy said the 20th century had seen too many mistakes that led to frightful tragedies.

‘And there was a major Olympic mistake,’ he said, referring to the staging of the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin when the Nazis were in power. ‘The Olympic movement and terrorist states definitely should not cross paths.’

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