MOSCOW, November 5. /TASS/. The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) must carry on with its work protecting the interests of Russian athletes, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
During a meeting with Cabinet members, the Russian president noted that both the IOC in general and certain international sports federations, as well as CAS, were making decisions that aligned with the Olympic Charter and its principles and requested that Russian athletes be allowed to participate in international tournaments.
However, not all countries are ready to observe their obligations in the sphere of sports and continue imposing politicized restrictions against Russian athletes, according to him.
"Our Russian Olympic Committee must definitely continue its work on the protection of Russian athletes’ interests," the president pointed out adding that it would be an issue for separate discussions.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced a decision on July 7 to provisionally lift an earlier-imposed suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and also recommended lifting restrictions on the participation of Russian athletes in all international tournaments.
TASS reported earlier in the week that the national hockey federations representing Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and the Czech Republic announced their unwillingness to play matches against the Russian national team at the World Championship following the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) regarding the admission of Russians to the competitions.
The Latvian national team will not play against the Russia team at the world championship after the Baltics nation's legislature voted against doing so.