Poland demands tougher anti-Russian sporting sanctions
The Ministry of Sports and Tourism of Poland has called to impose limits upon Russian athletes from competing in various sports internationally to just those who “oppose the actions of the Russian Federation in Ukraine.”
The Russian sporting infrastructure has been hit with a large swathe of sanctions from various sporting bodies in the wake of the country's military operation in Ukraine which was launched towards the end of February.
St. Petersburg was stripped of this season's Champions League final by football authorities UEFA, while Russia was also expelled from a scheduled World Cup qualification playoff against Poland, effectively barring them from this year's World Cup in Qatar.
There have been various other measures taken against Russia and its sportspeople since the onset of the military operation in Ukraine, but Poland's sporting leadership has called for sanctions to go one step further – by banning Russians from almost all international sport and limiting those eligible to compete to only those who denounce the actions of the Russian leadership in Ukraine.
“We are in favor of excluding Russians from all sports federations led by the International Olympic Committee until the completion of the peace process and compensations to Ukraine,” said Polish Minister of Sports and Tourism Kamil Bortniczuk after a meeting of the EU Council for Education, Youth, Culture and Sports, according to R-Sport.
“Only after compensations to Ukraine can they again qualify for participation in world sports, sports competitions.”
Bortniczuk further alleged that Russia has engaged in a policy of using financial power to influence top-level decisions of international sports federations.
“In recent years, Russia has been pursuing an aggressive diplomatic policy, essentially buying seats on the boards of key sports federations, since a rich sponsor with Russian capital followed the candidate,” he said.
“Therefore, the exclusion of Russian capital should also come at the same time.”
But Bortniczuk did provide one caveat: if Russian athletes criticize the actions of their country in Ukraine, roll out the red carpet for them.
“It is necessary to separate the issue of representatives of the Russian Federation and Russians playing, for example, in the Premier League,” he added.
“My position, like the position of ministers from the UK, USA, Australia, is that sometimes these [sportspeople] perform without representing the Russian Federation.
“Their performance may be made dependent on their clear position in the context of what is happening in Ukraine. This may have more positive consequences than the complete exclusion of all Russians from the opportunity to play sports.”
