Polish Sports Minister Kamil Bortniczuk has called for tougher sporting sanctions on Russia
Polish athletes at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. © David Ramos / Getty Images
Poland has been accused of triggering a new campaign of “Russophobia” by demanding that the country be excluded from all international sporting federations, following comments from Sports Minister Kamil Bortniczuk this week.
Bortniczuk declared at an EU meeting on Monday that sanctions against Russia – which have already seen its athletes banned from swathes of competitions – should be ramped up significantly.
“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 Bortniczuk.
In response, Russian State Duma Deputy Boris Paykin – a member of the Committee on Sports and Physical Culture – has called the comments “a new round of Russophobia.”
“Believe me, in a few months no one will remember Poland’s initiative, and Russian sports will prove their right to exist in the world sports family,” said Paykin, according to TASS.
Elsewhere, Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin stressed he would not waste too much time responding to the “unprofessional” remarks from Bortniczuk.
“I don’t want to waste my time and energy on the words of my colleague from Poland,” Matytsin said, RIA Sport reported.
“I don’t know him personally. It was an unprofessional and inappropriate speech.
“From my point of view, he doesn’t adequately assess what is happening in the world. It’s necessary to position oneself as a guarantor of stability, despite the complexity of the political situation.”
Matytsin regretted that Russian athletes had been “discriminated against” since the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended their suspension from competitions at the end of February – a stance which has been taken up by a wide range of sporting federations.
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