MOSCOW, November 1. /TASS/. Russia will not give in to the immoral demands of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and will wait for the organization to come to its senses, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday.
"If you’ve lost your mind and think that we are going to abandon our nature and follow some new criteria within which our people must reject their gender, their core identity, and change their names - we will wait until you get over this disease. In the meantime, we will organize sporting events on our own," she said in an interview with Russia’s Match TV television channel commenting on the IOC stance.
She emphasized that Moscow would not succumb to "pressure, to the so-called narratives and absolutely not only illegitimate, but immoral demands," on behalf of global sports institutions.
"We will carry on with our work, we will wait for them to alter their approach. We will keep influencing this situation. We will stand our ground through arbitration, through international organizations, through the public sphere," she added.