The first Summer Friendship Games are scheduled to be held in moscow and yekaterinburg in September 2024, and the Winter Friendship Games in sochi in 2026.
To this end, the russian government has launched a very intense diplomatic offensive, involving government delegations and ambassadors, as well as ministerial and other government bodies, reaching out to governments around the world. To make their purely political motivation even more apparent, they deliberately bypass sports organisations in their target countries.
“This is a flagrant violation of the Olympic Charter and at the same time a violation of various UN resolutions. This is a cynical attempt by the russian federation to politicise sport. The IOC Athletes' Commission, which represents all the world's Olympians, clearly opposes the use of athletes for political propaganda. The Commission even sees the risk that their governments will force athletes to participate in such a highly politicised sporting event, thus being used as part of a political propaganda campaign,” the IOC said.
The russian government also demonstrates a complete lack of respect for global anti-doping standards and the integrity of competition. This is the same government that was involved in a systemic doping programme at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics and later in the manipulation of anti-doping data.
The IOC also noted that last week the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) expressed its concern about russia's plans to organise an unauthorised Friendship event in September 2024.
In particular, it is concerned that if the event is not held under the protection of the World Anti-Doping Code (the Code), the health and integrity of athletes may be at risk. WADA urges all signatories to the Code to be cautious and not to recognise the event as legitimate, as the Agency cannot vouch for the anti-doping programme that may or may not be in place. This position is reinforced by the fact that the National Anti-Doping Agency of Russia (RUSADA) is not currently compliant with the Code, there is currently no WADA-accredited laboratory in russia and overall confidence in the anti-doping system in russia remains low.
For all of these reasons, the IOC finds:
- a gross violation of the Olympic Charter;
- violation of relevant UN resolutions;
- disrespect for athletes and the integrity of sports competitions.
“The Olympic Movement strongly condemns any initiatives to fully politicise sport, including the creation of fully politicised sporting events by the russian government.
We call on all stakeholders of the Olympic movement and all governments to refuse any participation in and support for any initiatives that aim to fully politicise international sport,” the IOC stressed.