Russia's war of aggression: IOC continues against expulsion of Russian officials

The International Olympic Committee still does not want to exclude Russian officials and has referred to its Olympic charter.

Accordingly, the IOC members are “not representatives of their country within the IOC.

Rather, they are elected as individuals by the IOC and then delegated to the sports organizations in their country as ambassadors of the IOC.

In any case, there are currently no IOC meetings attended by Russian IOC members, it said.

Switzerland had previously campaigned for the exclusion of officials from Russia and Belarus from top positions in international sports associations because of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.

This emerged from a letter from Sports and Defense Minister Viola Amherd to the IOC.

In view of the situation in Ukraine, it is no longer sufficient to exclude athletes from the two countries from competitions abroad, the letter said, among other things.

The IOC said it would continue to denounce individuals and organizations “responsible for this war and violating the Olympic truce.

At the same time, the IOC continues to monitor the situation closely and reserves the right to adjust the measures depending on further developments."

Meanwhile, IOC member Richard Pound told Deutschlandfunk that he thinks the exclusion of Russian athletes and teams from numerous associations is correct.

He finds it questionable that the IOC only recommends the exclusion of athletes, but not of Russian officials.

"It seems incomprehensible that the penalties are selective here," he said.

Pound avoided a clear statement as to whether the Russian IOC members should be suspended.

The two-time Olympic pole vault champion and Putin supporter Yelena Isinbayeva has to deal with her role.

However, Pound sees nothing wrong in the contacts between IOC President Thomas Bach and FIFA boss Gianni Infantino and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Among other things, both had watched a game of the World Cup in Moscow with Putin in 2018.

Bach also appeared at the 2014 Olympic Games and afterwards at Putin's side, who invaded Crimea shortly after the Sochi Games and launched the war of aggression in Ukraine on February 24 of this year, shortly after the Winter Games in Beijing.

“A lot of these things are symbolic gestures.

Infantino and Thomas have no divisions or tanks.

It's important to have the best possible relationships with government officials because in many countries, practically all, governments are very important, in building sports facilities and so on," said Pound, referring to the head of the International Olympic Committee and the president of the Football world federation.

He finds it “difficult that international sports associations should be tougher on dictators.

You have to be careful there.

But political leaders tend to have poor memories.

And it's important that such behavior can have consequences for the citizens of this country," Pound said.