MOSCOW, June 9. /TASS/. Russia should remain open to sports cooperation with countries that are willing to maintain such interaction, but the country must not forget about its own interests, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday.
"[This work] has to be built in a very friendly way towards those people who treat us the same way, but with the understanding that we also have our own interests, including in this kind of activity, and our own principles," Putin said at his meeting on Monday with Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev.
"It must be worthy work regarding our partners, our friends, and all of us - this is one of the fundamental positions," Putin continued. "This work should not infringe on our interests and we should be striving to avoid it."
"In any case, it should be based on the mutual respect. This is where you need to start now in order to build a full-fledged partnership," Putin told Dyagterev, who also serves as the president of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC).
IOC sanctions against Russia, Belarus
On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to prohibit athletes from Russia and Belarus from participating in international tournaments, citing Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.
Following the IOC’s recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.
In late March, 2023, the IOC recommended allowing individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in international sports tournaments, but only under specific conditions. Specifically, athletes from the two countries should not be "actively supporting" Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and must compete under a neutral status. Russia and Belarus were also banned from participating in international team events.
On October 12, 2023, the IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) until further notice after the Russian organization included the Olympic councils of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions as its members.