The president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, refused the invitation of Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky to visit the city of Bakhmut with him, Inside the Games reported. According to the portal, the sports federation does not give in to Ukrainian pressure.
"We are currently not planning another visit to Ukraine," the IOC announced, according to the news site. Zelensky invited Bach to Bakhmut after the committee announced that they were looking for the opportunity for Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics. According to Bach's point of view, the IOC should remain neutral, but the leader of the Kyiv regime replied: come to Ukraine to "see with your own eyes, neutrality does not exist."
The article mentions that more and more European countries are joining the informal anti-Russian-Belarus sports diplomatic coalition. Polish Sports Minister Kamil Bortniczuk reportedly said that his country and Great Britain were leading the way in organizing it and were ready to issue an ultimatum to the IOC if the organization insisted on its neutrality.
The IOC responded that it "deplored the threat of a boycott in the extreme" and insisted that history had proven that boycotts "did not achieve their political goals".
Source: Magyar Hírlap
Image source: Shutterstock
