MOSCOW, February 27. /TASS/. Over 2,500 athletes from the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR respectively) as well as from the Zaporozhye Region took part in training camps in Russia’s various regions, Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin told TASS on Monday.
"Beginning on February 25, 2022 until today, an evacuation process has been underway for athletes, their coaching and assisting staff representing the DPR and LPR territories as well as the Zaporozhye Region," Matytsin said in an interview with TASS.
"Over 2,500 athletes from our new territories attended training camps in dozens of Russian regions," Matytsin added.
Russia’s sports chief said that: "Last year, over two million Russian athletes participated in sports tournaments across the country and this figure also includes representatives of sports delegations from 30 countries."
Russia’s special military operation
On February 21, 2022, President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow was recognizing the sovereignty of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, (the DPR and LPR respectively). Russia signed agreements on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance with their leaders. Moscow recognized the Donbass republics in accordance with the DPR and LPR constitutions within the boundaries of the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions as of the beginning of 2014.
Russian President Putin announced on February 24, 2022, that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics for assistance, he had decided to carry out a special military operation in Ukraine. The DPR and the LPR launched an operation to liberate their territories under Kiev’s control.
From September 23 to September 27, 2022, the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic as well as the Kherson Region and the Zaporozhye Region held a referendum where the majority of voters opted to join Russia.
On September 30, 2022, President Putin and the heads of the DPR, the LPR, and the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions signed treaties on their entry to Russia. Later, the State Duma and the Federation Council (the lower and upper houses of Russia’s parliament) approved legislation on ratifying these treaties, as well as federal constitutional laws on the accession of the four regions to Russia.
IOC’s ban on Russia’s international participation
On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part 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.
At its session on January 25, the IOC Executive Board put forward a proposal to permit individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in international sports tournaments, but only under certain conditions. Athletes from the countries in question should not be "actively supporting" Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and must compete under a neutral status.