Putin's devastating war against Ukraine is barbaric and evil, and
the UK Government continues to stand firmly with our Ukrainian
allies.
In the course of the war, Russia has killed scores of Ukrainian
athletes and destroyed Ukraine's sporting infrastructure.
The Minister for Sport and I are personally committed to
supporting Ukraine in the face of Putin's illegal invasion. That
is why we took action and led a coalition of 36 countries to
protect the integrity of international sport and ensure that
athletes representing Russia and Belarus are unable to
compete.
It is for the independent international sports bodies, such as
the International Olympic Committee (IOC), International
Paralympic Committee (IPC) and FIFA, to set the rules for
participation in their events. But our position is clear. Putin's
regime does not deserve to see its athletes line up on the
starting blocks of races or stand on podiums during medal
ceremonies as representatives of their countries.
This has never been about punishing individual Russian or
Belarusian athletes.
What we stand against is athletes competing representing the
states of Russia and Belarus.
We continue to vigorously oppose Russian and Belarusian state
participation. Our policy has never been a complete and total ban
on neutral athletes from Russia and Belarus participating at all.
Athletes from Russia and Belarus have been able to compete in the
UK as neutral athletes since the invasion. For example, our
guidance allowed athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete at
tennis competitions under strict neutrality conditions.
Instead, our efforts - and the efforts of our international
coalition - have been focused on urging the IOC and IPC to change
their approach, apply the strictest neutrality conditions
possible and ensure they are implemented rigorously.
After two years of concerted lobbying, they have done that. And
the result is that the number of athletes from Russia and Belarus
expected to participate in the Olympics is in the tens, not
hundreds.
As a result, we have written to the IOC and IPC noting that their
final neutrality rules for Paris achieve the widely accepted
baseline of ensuring that Russia and Belarus are not represented
as states in international sport. Our focus now turns to ensuring
these rules are stringently enforced and maintained as long as
the war goes on.
