Zelenskyy to address summit on Russia's attendance at 2024 Olympics

International Olympic Committee considering whether 'neutral' athletes can take part

The Centre Pompidou. Paris Olympic organisers have unveiled the 'visual identity' for the 2024 Games. AFP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will address a summit organised by the International Olympic Committee to decide on how to deal with the prospect of Russian and Belarusian competitors at the Paris Olympics.

There are no plans for a Russian or Belarusian delegation at the 2024 Games, the IOC said, but it is considering whether individual, “neutral” athletes from the countries can take part.

The UK will chair a summit of 30 nations to co-ordinate an international response on Friday.

Britain's new Culture Secretary, Lucy Frazer, has warned “we cannot allow Russian athletes to line up alongside Team GB and everyone else on the world stage".

Russia must face consequences for the “illegal invasion” of Ukraine, Ms Frazer said.

Mr Zelenskyy will address the summit by video, speaking to an audience expected to include ministers or senior representatives from EU countries including France, Germany and Poland, as well as the US and Canada.

This week the Olympic committees of Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark backed calls for the ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes to be upheld for the Paris 2024 Games.

Russia and Ukraine conflict latest — in pictures

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  A tank, seen left, fires a round in Soledar, a town in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. Reuters

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  Tank fire in Soledar, Donetsk. Reuters

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  Firefighters work to put out a blaze at a Kharkiv fireworks storage site after it was struck by a Russian missile. Getty

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  Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine's ground forces, visits his troops on the frontline in Soledar, Donetsk. Reuters

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  A Ukrainian flag attached to a tank flutters in the wind in Bakhmut. Reuters

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  A specialist from an emergency crew works on a residential building in Donetsk that was damaged in recent shelling. Reuters

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  A missile fragment left by shelling in Russian-controlled Donetsk. AP

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  Residents remove debris and carry their belongings out of a building destroyed by recent shelling in Donetsk, Russian-controlled Ukraine. Reuters

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  Ukrainian forces fire an anti-aircraft weapon as Russia's attack on the frontline city of Bakhmut continues. Reuters

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  A car drives past a destroyed building purported to have been used as temporary accommodation for Russian soldiers, dozens of whom were killed in a Ukrainian missile strike in Makiivka, Russian-controlled Ukraine. Reuters

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  The site of a temporary barracks for Russian soldiers in Makiivka, which was destroyed in a Ukrainian missile attack. Reuters

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  A Ukrainian serviceman carries his injured comrade from the battlefield to a hospital in the Donetsk region. AP

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  Smoke rises after shelling in Soledar, the site of heavy battles with Russian forces in the Donetsk region. AP

Last week Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland all voiced their opposition to the inclusion of athletes from Russia and Belarus.

The IOC has been working with international sports federations and national Olympic committees to develop a pathway enabling athletes from Russia and its ally to compete in Paris as neutrals under strict conditions, because of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Putin 'planning for a long war' in Ukraine, says Nato chief — video

“President Zelenskyy told the UK in Parliament this week of the suffering still being felt by many Ukrainians," Ms Frazer said.

“As he did so, the IOC was continuing to ignore the international allies stepping up their efforts for peace and disregard how the Olympics will give Putin the perfect platform to promote Russia and legitimise his illegal war.

“We’re approaching a year since this barbaric invasion began. We must urge the IOC to show that the Olympic values mean something.

“We must make clear there are consequences to this illegal invasion.

“We cannot allow Russian athletes to line up alongside Team GB and everyone else on the world stage.”

IOC president Thomas Bach has told Ukraine that its calls for a boycott of the 2024 Paris Games over the possible participation of Russian competitors goes against Olympic "principles".

In a letter to the Ukrainian National Olympic Committee revealed on Thursday, Mr Bach said the country's attempts to pressure other countries to boycott the 2024 Games was "extremely regrettable".

"Threatening a boycott of the Olympic Games which, as you inform me, the NOC of Ukraine is currently considering, goes against the fundamentals of the Olympic Movement and the principles we stand for," he said in the letter to Ukraine's Olympic chief, Vadym Goutzeit.

Mr Bach said the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes had "not even been discussed in concrete terms yet".

"Therefore, your letter at this premature stage to your fellow NOCs, to the International Federations, IOC members and to future Olympic hosts, pressuring them in an attempt to publicly influence their decision-making, has been perceived by the vast majority of them as, at the very least, extremely regrettable," he said.

Mr Bach also criticised "defamatory statements" made by some Ukraine officials who accused the IOC of being a "promoter of war, murder and destruction".