The Minister of Education, Science and Sports of Lithuania

Jurgita Šugždinene

reported that 35 countries unanimously agreed to support the ban on Russia and Belarus from participating in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris (France).

The countries, as Reuters writes, citing the politician, include the United States, France, Japan, Germany and Great Britain.

Presumably, the statement was made following the meeting convened by the British government on Friday, February 10.

SkyNews journalist Rob Garris

wrote about the meeting of sports ministers of different countries

.

The negotiations discussed the development of a collective attitude to the proposal of the International Olympic Committee to admit athletes from Russia and Belarus to the Olympic Games under a neutral flag.

Previously, such a possibility was allowed by the mayor of Paris

Anne Hidalgo

, who spoke categorically against allowing Russia and Belarus to perform at the Games under the state symbols.

A number of countries, including Ukraine, Scandinavian states and others, issued statements about the inadmissibility of Russian and Belarusian participation even under a neutral flag.

The Belarusian Sports Solidarity Fund (BFSS) also spoke against it.

They said that they believe that only those Belarusian and Russian athletes who specifically spoke out against the war can compete at the Olympics.

Tsikhanovskaya: athletes who support the war should not compete at the Olympic Games

The representative of the Belarusian opposition,

Svyatlana Tsikhanovskaya

, supported the statement of the FSSU and spoke against any permission to participate in the Olympics for athletes who support the war and Lukashenka's regime.

"In those days, when free athlete

Nadeya Ostapchuk

is kept in torturous conditions in Akrestin for a month and a half, and then sent for a "penitential interview", the world is seriously discussing whether it is possible to allow athletes of the regime and Russia to the Olympics.

Since 2020, Belarusian athletes have spoken out en masse against falsifications, repression and torture.

Criminal cases were opened against them, they were put in prisons, they were deprived of their careers.

They opposed the regime - and lost the opportunity to get to the Olympics.

Pro-regime athletes, such as

Maksim Nedasekov

, see nothing wrong with repression and torture.

They do not see Russia's crimes in the war and openly support the regime.

Despite the repression of the sports community in Belarus, such athletes were admitted to the Olympics in Tokyo.

Despite the attempt to forcibly take the athlete Kristina Timonovskaya to Belarus

,

they were allowed to participate in the Olympics in Beijing.

And despite the complicity of the regime in Russia's war against Ukraine, they are going to be admitted to the Olympics in Paris.

And the honest Belarusian athletes, who all this time fought against the regime and opposed the war, will not be at the Olympics, because the regime does not give them the opportunity to take part in competitions.

There is nothing to do with justice here.

I support the position of the Sports Solidarity Fund.

Athletes who support repression, falsification and war in Ukraine should not participate in the Olympics.

Not under any flag - not under a state flag, not under a Russian flag, or under a neutral one."