Russian Deputy Sports Minister Odes Baysultanov made an incredibly absurd statement about the greatness of the aggressor country and demanded that football clubs from the occupied territories of Ukraine be included in the Russian championship. He called for forgetting about UEFA and FIFA, which threatened to impose new sanctions.

Baysultanov said this on the air of the Match TV propaganda TV channel. The former head of Chechnya's government called it a mistake to exclude Crimean clubs from the second division of the Russian championship in 2014 at the request of UEFA as this led to the fact that it became possible to "make Russia kneel by imposing sanctions."

"We are not a banana republic. We are one of the largest countries in this world with its own constitution and its own law. And we are not a branch of UEFA, FIFA, or anyone else. This is our territory, our country, and we are Russian citizens. And this question should not be raised at all. If there are problems, if we are included or not, I don't care. Russia always tries to resolve everything peacefully, but unfortunately, this is now being perceived as a weakness. And Russia is not weak, it will never kneel," the official said.

Earlier, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended Russia's membership after the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) illegally included the councils of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions in its membership.

As OBOZ.UA reported, Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin accused the IOC of "ethnic discrimination" against Russians. In response, the organization put the Russian president in his place.

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