President Putin accused the International Olympic Committee of "racism" and political bias in banning athletes from competing under the Russian flag.
"Thanks to some leaders of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), we realized that participation in the Olympics is not an unconditional right of the best athletes, but a privilege that can be enjoyed not by sports achievements, but by political actions that are completely unrelated to sports," President Vladimir Putin said at the "Russia - Sports Power" conference in the western city of Perm today.
Mr Putin's comments came after the IOC last week suspended the Russian Olympic Committee's membership for recognising sports bodies in four Moscow regions annexed from Ukraine.
"The Olympics can be used as a tool to exert political pressure on people who are not politically involved, because in fact Russians are being discriminated against," Putin added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at a press conference in Beijing, China on October 18. Photo: AFP
Russia has been at odds with the IOC since the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, where Russian athletes were accused of benefiting from a large-scale state-sponsored doping program for years. Moscow denies the allegations.
As a result, Russian athletes have only been allowed to compete at the Olympics under a neutral flag since 2018. The IOC did not say last week whether Russian athletes would be allowed to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Russia's continued war in Ukraine has led to more sporting sanctions against Moscow, including a ban from international football competitions.
At the conference in Perm, Mr Putin hailed new multinational events among non-Western countries for Russian athletes, including tournaments hosted by the BRICS group in the city of Kazan next year.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko also announced plans to organize a new football tournament featuring 10 teams from the Ukrainian territories under Russian control, pledging to invest 3.2 billion rubles ($33 million) in sports infrastructure in those areas.
Stanislav Pozdnykov, head of the Russian Olympic Committee, said the important thing now was to prepare athletes for the 2028 Games. "I believe that by then our athletes will be able to participate as a strong team," he said.
Huyen Le (According to AFP , Reuters )
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