"Settling scores": Aksyonov orders Crimean athletes to refuse to travel to Paris for 2024 Olympics

The so-called head of the temporarily occupied Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, has announced that athletes from the peninsula will not go to the 2024 Games in Paris. The Moscow-appointed gauleiter accused the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of "settling scores with countries that are not favorable to the West."

Aksyonov said this in a commentary to the propaganda news agency Kryminform. The accomplice of Vladimir Putin's dictatorial regime also confirmed that the decision to refuse to allow Crimeans to travel to the French capital was made to spite the IOC, and that no one is interested in the careers of athletes.

"The IOC has betrayed the Olympic principles and turned into an instrument of political revenge and settling scores with countries that are not favorable to the West. They do not hide it. Why would the Olympic Committee want to give such pleasure? After all, Olympic sport is primarily about the prestige of the state, about pride in one's homeland. That is why my personal opinion is that there is no need to go to the Olympics," Aksyonov said.

Prior to that, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused the IOC of colluding with Ukraine to "squeeze" Russia out of international sports. The day before, former biathlete Svetlana Ishmuratova said that "asking Ukrainians is low" and made an absurd statement about the IOC's fear of Russia.

As OBOZ.UA previously reported, the president of the Russian Olympic Committee (IOC) Stanislav Pozdnyakov demanded that the IOC postpone the 2024 Games from Paris after the city's mayor, Anne Hidalgo, said she did not want to see athletes from Russia and Belarus at the competition.

Only verified information on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes