Sports minister's desperate plea to Ukraine Olympians
Ukraine athletes have been urged to ignore their Russian counterparts at the Olympic Games, with the country's acting sports minister saying competitors must keep a "cold head" and pay no attention to any provocation.
There's some concern within the country that athletes will struggle to maintain their composure in light of the Russian invasion but have stressed to remain calm after Urainian fencer Olha Kharlan was expelled from the world championship for refusing to shake hands with her Russian opponent last July.
Speaking to The Guardian, Matviy Bidnyi asked the nation's athletes to not succumb to questionable tactics from Russian rivals.
"I would tell them to react in a proper way, a dignified way," he said. "To understand and be aware that this provocation was made on purpose. To ignore such provocations with a cold head."
The sports minister would not be drawn on what kind of tactics the Russians may use but said: "We will see what they will do. Our sportspeople are ready."
Kharlan looked certain to miss out on Paris 2024 after her disqualification but was given an exception by the International Olympic Committee president, Thomas Bach, and will compete in August.
"I think it's not only her that got a lesson out of this situation," Bidnyi said. "That was the first provocation and we made conclusions from it. We started working profoundly to change the regulations, and a number of similar cases allowed us to elaborate and make our recommendations."
Ukrainian athletes are also asked "not to communicate or discuss on social media with individual neutral athletes from Russia and Belarus" and not to share or respond to their content.
The recommendations include refraining from "direct contact with representatives of the aggressor countries, which could lead to provocative actions on their part in the Olympic Village or outside it," Ukraine's NOC and the Ministry of Youth and Sports said earlier this month.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced in December that Russian and Belarusian athletes will only be eligible to compete as individual neutral athletes at this year's Paris Games. These athletes are referred to by the abbreviation AIN, which comes from the French translation Athlètes Individuels Neutres.
Ukrainian fencer Olha Kharlan.
In order to compete, the athletes must meet eligibility requirements. Teams of Russian and Belarusian athletes will not be considered, while athletes who actively support the war against Ukraine will also be ineligible.
No reference to either country will be made at the Games through the athletes' participation.
Kyiv has condemned the decision to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete, and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba went as far as saying in December that the IOC "essentially gave Russia the green light to weaponize the Olympics."
"The Kremlin will use every Russian and Belarusian athlete as a weapon in its propaganda warfare. I urge all partners to strongly condemn this shameful decision, which undermines Olympic principles," Kuleba said in a post on social media.
Belarus has played a key role in Russia's war in Ukraine, and President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, allowed Russian forces to attack Ukraine from Belarusian territory in early 2022. Russia and Belarus also conduct regular joint military drills.