MOSCOW. March 29 (Interfax) - The Russian authorities will stand by national athletes and will continue to engage with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) following the release of its guidance on clearing Russian athletes for international events, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"We will continue to defend the interests of our athletes in every way we can. Contacts with the International Olympic Committee will continue to defend the interests of our athletes," Peskov told reporters in his comments on the IOC recommendations.
"The Russian Olympic Committee made a rather prompt comment yesterday. It was quite exhaustive. The recommendations were described as containing elements of discrimination, which is inadmissible," Peskov said.
Clearance of Russian and Belarusian athletes for international competitions was the main item on the agenda of a meeting of the IOC Executive Committee, which opened in Lausanne on Tuesday.
Following discussions, the IOC recommended that Russian and Belarusian athletes be cleared only with a neutral status. They also need to meet certain criteria stating, in particular, that only those who do not support the special military operation in Ukraine can compete. Athletes associated with the Armed Forces - for instance, CSKA - are barred from competitions.
Russian Olympic Committee President Stanislav Pozdnyakov has described the IOC criteria as discriminatory by nationality. "The criteria announced for returning to international games are unacceptable. This is discrimination based on ethnicity, as has repeatedly been pointed out by international humanitarian specialists, including UN human rights experts. Their position was ignored," he said.