Zelensky Wants Russian Athletes Banned from the Olympics
Ukrainian president calls for 'complete isolation' of Russia
Man-of-the-Century Volodymyr Zelensky wants Russian athletes to be punished over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and called for them to be barred from competing in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
The former comedian, who dodged the Ukrainian draft four times, had a conversation with Thomas Bach, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) president, and expressed his opinion about Russian athletes competing. He said these athletes should face “complete isolation,” Barron’s reported.
The report noted that delegates and U.S. officials have expressed “unanimous interest” in coming up with a strategy that would allow these athletes to compete as long as they don’t do so under the Russian flag.
Susanne Lyons, the head of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, supported the idea to include Russian and Belarusian athletes as long as they don’t compete under their country’s flags or in their colors, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Zelensky also expressed dismay that the head of the Russian Olympic Committee attended the IOC summit last month.
“One cannot try to be neutral when the foundations of peaceful life are being destroyed and universal human values are being ignored,” he said in a statement, according to Raw Story.
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Shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, much of the West moved to punish Russian artists.
The Metropolitan Opera in New York announced at the time that it aims to “ring the alarm” in its fight against oppression by refusing to work with any Russian artist who backs President Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine.
Peter Gelb, the general manager of the opera house, said in a statement obtained by CNN that the Met believes in a “warm friendship” with artists and institutions in Russia, but it can no longer engage with them until the invasion “and killing has been stopped, order has been restored, and restitutions have been made.”
The bans are not limited to music and Russians in all kinds of public roles are feeling the pressure.
Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire and former owner of the Chelsea soccer team, sold the team in May after being pressured.
“As I have stated before, I have always taken decisions with the club’s best interest at heart. In the current situation, I have therefore taken the decision to sell the club, as I believe this is in the best interest of the club, the fans, the employees, as well as the club sponsors and partners,” he said at the time.
TRENDPOST: Any mention of peace has been banned in the West and anything less than pure hatred for Russians is immediately written off as sympathizing with Putin. Zelensky gets away with these calls to arms because the Western media and the Biden administration are anti-Russian.
Zelensky has a history of destroying anyone who does not share his hatred toward the Russian state. Viktor Petrenko, one of Ukraine’s most visible Olympic champions, who even posted “NO WAR” on social media, was stripped of his monthly stipend from the country after Ukraine’s skating federation said it was “outraged” by his decision to skate in Russia after the invasion occurred, The New York Times reported.
Ukraine attacks anyone who mentions a negotiated settlement.