MOSCOW, March 30. /TASS/. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommendations on authorization of Russian athletes for competition in neutral status are motivated by the desire to implement the Western logic on exclusion of Russia from world sports, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during a briefing Thursday.
"We are certain that the recommendations on authorization of Russian athletes for completion in neutral status without a flag or an anthem are motivated primarily by the desire to once again implement the stranger, rather wild logic, imposed by the West, on exclusion of Russia from world sports," the spokeswoman said, calling it "attempts to exert pressure, to implement what they call a ‘containment policy’ towards our country," she said.
Zakharova pointed out that Russia opposes such forms of discrimination.
"They are unacceptable when they are being disguised as false protection of human rights, and distort the principles of Olympism beyond recognition," she noted.