Ukraine is appealing to the IOC to prevent Russian and Belarusian chess players from participating in FIDE events, UNN reports citing the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
Details
The National Olympic Committee of Ukraine, the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Chess Federation have appealed to the IOC regarding the decision to hold consultations on the possible revision of restrictions for the chess federations of Russia and Belarus on the admission of children under 12 to participate in FIDE events.
The letter states the unwavering point of view of our country, which has been suffering from military aggression by these two countries for three years.
"The current circumstances do not provide any grounds to revise the restrictions related to the chess federations of Russia and Belarus, even for children under 12. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale military aggression, 575 Ukrainian children have been killed and another 1609 children have been injured by the Russian army. Ukrainian children are shelled by Russian missiles and drones every day. They are deprived of the opportunity to live a normal life, let alone participate in sports competitions," the letter reads.
Ukraine insists that the national teams of Russia and Belarus have no right to participate in international competitions under the auspices of FIDE and represent their countries. After all, we all understand that the entire Russian and Belarusian sports community is an instrument of state policy of Russia and Belarus, the ministry added.