On 26 July 2024, the XXXIII Olympic Games will open in the capital of the French Republic. The decision of the International Olympic Committee to allow russian and belarusian athletes under a neutral flag to participate in the world's most important sporting events has caused serious concern and misunderstanding in Ukrainian society and among the world community.
For more than two years now, the Ukrainian people, with the support of the entire democratic world, have been resisting the barbaric full-scale armed aggression of the russian federation, accompanied by unprecedented war crimes. The aggressor is destroying Ukrainian cities and villages, killing civilians, including women and children.
In particular, on 8 July this year, the occupiers targeted the National Children's Specialised Hospital ‘Okhmatdyt’, a private medical clinic, a kindergarten and residential buildings in the capital of Ukraine – Kyiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Kramatorsk, Pokrovsk, Sloviansk, Vilniansk and other cities were also shelled. As a result of the crime against civilians on this black day, in just one day, Ukraine lost almost 50 citizens, including 5 children. Hundreds of seriously ill children undergoing treatment at the Okhmatdyt hospital, including chemotherapy and haemodialysis, were urgently evacuated, which harmed their health and reduced the effectiveness of treatment; 2 young patients died within a short period after the evacuation.
The cynical and barbaric missile attacks of the ruscist aggressors on educational and healthcare institutions and critical infrastructure are deliberate actions aimed at genocide of the Ukrainian people, and at the same time an outright challenge to the humanistic ideas of the global Olympic movement. Ukrainian civilians are being killed every day, and no one can feel safe from the actions of the russian aggressor in any corner of Ukraine.
The russian federation deliberately and systematically destroys sports infrastructure, which contradicts the principles of the Olympic Charter. As of 10 July 2024, 520 sports facilities have been completely destroyed or damaged as a result of the armed aggression in Ukraine. Defending the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, 489 Ukrainian athletes and coaches were killed in the confrontation with the russian invaders, and many more were injured or are in captivity.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has repeatedly appealed to the heads of state, parliaments and governments of democratic countries, the International Olympic Committee and international sports federations to prevent russian and belarusian athletes from participating in international sports competitions, especially the Olympic Games. These appeals emphasised that ‘with the beginning of the russian full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022, the slogan “Sport is out of politics” has lost its right to exist. russian and belarusian athletes, including Olympic champions and medallists, endorse the war against Ukraine: violence, murder and genocide of the Ukrainian people by openly participating in z-parades or by silently supporting this fiercest full-scale war, lacking civic courage or a conscious position to condemn it.
russia and belarus are inclined to create a false impression of the true purpose of their policy by any means possible, using athletes as an ideological weapon to implement their shameful propaganda, strengthen the morale of the russian army and the zombified russian people and influence the decisions of other states to support Ukraine in its struggle for its Freedom and Independence and European choice.’
However, the decision of the International Olympic Committee to allow russian and belarusian athletes to participate in international sports competitions as neutral athletes, provided they do not openly oppose the peacekeeping mission of the International Olympic Committee, i.e. do not publicly support the war of the russian federation against Ukraine, has not been revised.
Unfortunately, even this decision, which is insulting to the memory of the fallen Ukrainian athletes, is not being implemented. Human rights organisations, international and Ukrainian media have noted that a significant number of russian and belarusian athletes admitted to the Olympic Games are affiliated with military formations and/or support the war of the russian federation against the Ukrainian people.
Since this decision of the International Olympic Committee does not correspond to the ideas of the founder of the modern Olympic movement, Pierre de Coubertin, the slogan ‘O sport, you are peace’ and leads to impunity for athletes whose actions contradict the very purpose of Olympism, as formulated in the Olympic Charter: to support the establishment of a peaceful society that is interested in preserving human dignity, we, the people's deputies of Ukraine, are hereby calling for the establishment of a peaceful society: Andrii Kozhemiakin (Faction of the All-Ukrainian Union ‘Batkivshchyna’ in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the ninth convocation), Zhan Beleniuk (Faction of the Political Party ‘Servant of the People’), Vasyl Mokan (Faction of the Political Party ‘Servant of the People’), Hryhorii Surkis (Deputy Group ‘Platform for Life and Peace’), Olha Saladukha (Faction of the ‘Servant of the People’ political party), Iryna Borzova (Faction of the ‘Servant of the People’ political party), Heorhii Mazurashu (Faction of the ‘Servant of the People’ political party), Oleksandra Ustinova (Faction of the Political Party ‘HOLOS’ in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the ninth convocation), Yaroslav Yurchyshyn (Faction of the Political Party ‘GOLOS’ in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the ninth convocation), Larysa Bilozir (Deputy Group ‘DOVIRA’), Mykola Kniazhytskyi (Faction of the Political Party ‘European Solidarity’), Solomiia Bobrovska (Faction of the Political Party ‘GOLOS’ in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the ninth convocation), Alina Zahuruiko (Faction of the political party ‘Servant of the People’), Yuliia Klymenko (Faction of the political party ‘Voice’ in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the ninth convocation), Ivan Krulko (Faction of the All-Ukrainian Union ‘Batkivshchyna’ in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the ninth convocation), Viacheslav Rubliov (Faction of the Political Party ‘Servant of the People’), Halyna Vasylchenko (Faction of the Political Party ‘HOLOS’ in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the ninth convocation):
1) we appeal to the International Olympic Committee and international sports federations to cancel the decision to allow russian and belarusian athletes to participate in the Olympic Games;
2) call on the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, the Government and the Parliament of the French Republic to decide to ban russian and belarusian athletes from the territory of the French Republic during the Olympic and Paralympic Games, as their presence in the territory of civilised states threatens stability and national security;
3) we propose that the heads of state, parliaments and governments of democratic countries of the world make a decision to prevent russian and belarusian athletes from entering their territory during international sports competitions until the end of the armed aggression of the russian federation against Ukraine, which provides for the withdrawal of the aggressor state's troops from the entire territory of Ukraine.