VLADIVOSTOK, September 6. /TASS/. The Russian Foreign Ministry’s official spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said Ukrainian Minister of Youth and Sports Matvey Bedny’s remarks about a plan to bar Russians from the 2026 Olympic Games were a manifestation of the Kiev government’s extremist nature.

"Those are ministers of a terrorist government, of a government that commits terrorist acts. And what the so-called Ukrainian minister of sports said testifies exactly to that. Once again, they talk about destroying something, about destroying global sports, because excluding Russia from sporting events, preventing [its athletes] from competition would be a move that destroys global sports," the diplomat told reporters on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).

"This is exactly what this terrorist, extremist government has been doing. They are destroying everything: civilian infrastructure, people’s lives, regional European security," she said. "It is in their extremist, destructive nature. And in this particular case it manifested in the sphere of sports.".