The head of the OC of Russia called the Russians at the 2024 Olympics “a team of foreign agents”

The head of the Russian Olympic Committee, Stanislav Pozdnyakov, called the Russian tennis players who intend to participate in this year’s Olympic Games in Paris a “team of foreign agents”. Pozdniakov’s indignation was relieved by the fact that Russian athletes agree to compete under a neutral flag, as the International Olympic Committee demands from Russians and Belarusians.

Pozdnyakov emphasized that we are talking about tennis players who, according to him, “live most of the time abroad, earn money there, claim at the same time that they are playing for themselves, and condemn the politics of their country and the SVO [Специальную военную операцию – так российские власти называют войну в Украине. – РС]”. He added that he respects the sporting achievements of tennis players, but does not agree with them “from a human and civil point of view”.

Leading Russian tennis players Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublyov and Daria Kasatkina, among others, announced their intention to perform at the Olympics in Paris.

Earlier, the head of the All-Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation, Irina Viner, called the athletes who are ready to participate in the Olympics under a neutral flag, “a team of bums without a flag, an anthem and fans.”

• The Summer Olympic Games, which will be the 33rd, will be held in Paris from July 26 to August 11, 2024. According to the terms of the International Olympic Committee, Russian and Belarusian athletes will be able to compete at them in a neutral status, only in individual sports and only if they are not connected to the military or security agencies. Russian national teams in some sports refused to participate in competitions under such conditions.
• The IOC introduced its sanctions against Russian and Belarusian participation in 2022, after the start of Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine.