Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin has called unacceptable the requirement for Russian athletes to condemn the war in Ukraine in order to participate in the 2024 Olympic Games. The official of the aggressor country called it a "red line" and the condition itself a restriction of athletes' rights to belong to the Russian Federation.

Matytsin said this in an interview with the propaganda publication Izvestia. He noted with pathos that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is obliged to take Russia's position into account, as it is "a powerful and longstanding partner," without which "the development of all international sport will be difficult."

"We will look very carefully at what these recommendations will be, how they will limit the rights of our athletes to belong to Russia, to Russian symbols, to express in the public sphere an opinion on state policy. We have repeatedly stated, there is a red line that we cannot cross. The red line is the declarations that some federations have proposed, labeling the position of athletes as disagreement with the policies of the government and the president. Declarations condemning the SMO. Of course, this red line will not be crossed by Russian sport in any case," Matytsin said.

Recall, the IOC has not sent Russia and Belarus an official invitation to the Olympics-2024 in Paris. Earlier, former footballer of the Russian national team Vladislav Radimov with the words "hands down" spoke against the participation of athletes from Russia at the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024 in a neutral status.

As reported by OBOZREVATEL, former president of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) Leonid Tyagachev urged Russians not to express personal opinions about the participation of athletes at the Games in Paris, "because we have any issue in sports is decided by Vladimir Putin

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