PACE to debate resolution banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from 2024 Olympics

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will hold a debate and consider a resolution on banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from the 2024 Olympics.

Yevhenia Kravchuk, deputy head of the "Sluha Narodu" parliamentary faction, reported that on Facebook.

Photo: facebook.com yevheniya.khudzik

"I arrived in Strasbourg for the June plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. An important week for Ukraine is ahead. We have a serious task – holding a debate under an urgent procedure and adopting a resolution on the non-participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, which is being prepared by the PACE Committee on Committee on Culture, Education, Media and Sports, which I chair. The preliminary draft of the resolution is already full of strong wording. Therefore it is likely that the IOC will still receive a PACE recommendation regarding the non-admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes," Kravchuk wrote.

In addition, the MP will participate in discussions with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Hungary, Péter Szijjártó.

Additionally, Kravchuk stated that a side event would take place to provide support for the release of Ukrainian prisoners of war.

"Within the meeting of the Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media, which I chair, we will hold a joint hearing on the topic of my report "Combating the Erasure of Cultural Identity during War and Peace" and the topic of my colleague, Pavlo Sushka, " "Online Education and Special Education Tailored to Serve Children with Disabilities and Learning Difficulties." At my invitation, the education ombudsman Serhiy Horbachev and the director of the Kakhovka school, Viktor Pendalchuk, who twice survived captivity during the Russian occupation of his city, will take part in the hearing," Kravchuk said.

In addition, the MP will participate in the debate on integrating migrants and refugees and the political consequences of Russian aggression against Ukraine.

The PACE Summer Plenary Session will be held in Strasbourg on June 19-23.

For reference:

The International Olympic Committee earlier allowed Russian and Belarusian athletes to return to the world sports arena. They should act as neutral persons, provided they do not support the war in Ukraine and are not connected to the army.

At the end of March, the IOC recommended that Russians and Belarusians be admitted to the competition, but under neutrality. This recommendation only applies to individual sports.

In addition, IOC President Thomas Bach stated that Olympic athletes should not become a tool in the hands of international politics.