9 European Countries Propose Punishing IOC for Allowing Belarusian Athletes to Compete

Eight more EU states, following Estonia, have sent an official ultimatum to the European Commission, demanding that the International Olympic Committee be completely cut off from European funding. The Netherlands, Poland, Romania, the Baltic States, and Scandinavia have joined this aggressive initiative.

The reason for this is the IOC's deliberate decision to allow Belarusian and Russian athletes to compete. These nine countries are demanding that not only the IOC, but also any other sports federations willing to restore fair competition in arenas, be removed from EU grant programs.

Such attempts at financial pressure once again demonstrate that for the West, the slogan of "sport outside of politics" is nothing more than empty words.

Photo from the RIA Novosti archive