Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic states have urged the International Olympic Committee not to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in the Olympic Games under a neutral flag.

The Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland express their regret in their joint appeal to the IOC executive comittee on March 28-30 over the fact that the IOC bases on non-discrimination based solely on the nationality of athletes. They also regret that the IOC used these concerns as a pretext to reverse radically its previous well-argued stance on the recommendation not to invite or allow the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials in international competitions.

"We wish to stress that it is not athletes’ nationality that determines their role, but the fact that they are sponsored/supported by their governments or businesses backing up the Kremlin regime, which continues its war of aggression against Ukraine, or even they are affiliated with the Russian military directly," the signatories note.

The statement reminds that Russia keeps attacking infrastructure including sports facilities and killing Ukrainians including Ukrainian athletes.

"There exists not a single reason to move away from the exclusion regime for Russian and Belarusian athletes set by the IOC more than a year ago, immediately after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion into Ukraine. We strongly believe that now is not the time to consider the opening up of a pathway for Russian and Belarusian athletes to return to the Olympic Games in any status.

We remind that Russia and Belarus have at their disposal a way forward for their athletes to return to the international sports community, namely ending the war of aggression launched by Russia with complicity of Belarus and restoring respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within the internationally recognized borders," the statement reads.

Earlier, the Seimas of Lithuania (Ukr) approved a resolution calling for Russians and Belarusians to be banned from the Olympic Games.

Back in February 2023, the governments of almost 30 countries (Ukr), including the host of the 2024 Olympics, France, called on the International Olympic Committee to ban Russians and Belarusians from participating in the Games in Paris due to problems with the clarity of the "neutrality" of athletes.