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WASHINGTON — USA And a series of allies called on Tuesday to suspend the National Sports Federation of Russia and Belarus from the International Sports Federation due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian embassy in the United States described the move as "disgust" and said that "sports should be kept away from politics."
"Using it as a means of exerting pressure and determining scores directly violates the basic principles of the Olympic Movement and violates the spirit of competitiveness and healthy competition," Facebook said.https://www.facebook.com/RusEmbUSA/posts/pfbid0CgWpN79j3BWsJXCKnCGwaL5ET3ogYhuatGkiNWhMm4TMzMcdJecvbQLt9SgSx4rAl.
Russia's response took place hours after the U.S. Department of State issued a joint statement with its allies, which also said in Russia. And urged sports organizations to consider stopping the broadcast of the competition to Belarus.
Other signatories include Australia, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and South Korea. The states of China, India, Latin America and Africa were among the countries not listed as signatories.
According to the joint statement, if a sports organization allows competition of Russian and Belarusian athletes, it must be made clear that they are not representative of the Russian or Belarusian states. The use of official Russian and Belarusian flags, emblems and national anthems should be banned.
In March, Washington and its partners said Russia and Belarus should not be allowed to host, bid or award international sporting events. ..
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, many sports organizations have banned Russian athletes. FIFA and UEFA have suspended Russian national teams and clubs from International Football Day since the invasion began on February 24th.
Moscow calls its actions in Ukraine a "special military operation". Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Sunday that the former Soviet state had stood completely behind Russia in military operations in Ukraine as part of a long-standing commitment to a "coalition" with Moscow.
(Report by Kanisha Singh in Washington and Rachna Dhanrajani in Bangalore, edited by Himani Sarkar)
