Olympics 2024: Latvia could join Ukraine in boycott of Paris Games

The IOC is moving connected plans to let Russian and Belarussian athletes to vie astatine the 2024 Games nether a neutral flag

Latvia could articulation Ukraine successful boycotting the 2024 Paris Olympics if Russian and Belarusian athletes are allowed to compete.

Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics agreed connected Tuesday that Russia and Belarus' information successful the Olympics would beryllium "unacceptable".

Latvia, which borders Russia, has been a beardown protagonist of Ukraine.

• Ukraine could boycott Olympic Games
• Russia cannot beryllium allowed astatine Olympics - Zelensky

The International Olympic Committee said past Wednesday it would "explore a pathway" for athletes from the 2 countries to instrumentality portion arsenic neutrals.

But the UK Government has condemned the program arsenic a "world distant from the world of war" portion Latvia's National Olympic Committee said the beingness of the athletes would beryllium an "encouragement for further escalation of warfare, and normalisation of warfare crimes and brutal violence".

The NOC added: "For arsenic agelong arsenic determination is an ongoing warfare successful Ukraine, information of the Russian and Belarusian athletes successful the Olympic Games nether immoderate emblem is unacceptable."

The Baltic ministers of athletics - from Estonia and Lithuania, arsenic good arsenic Latvia - volition conscionable connected Thursday to sermon a associated entreaty to the IOC to prohibition Russian and Belarusian sportsmen from each planetary competition.

Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky has said Russian athletes should person "no place" astatine the Paris Games.

The IOC antecedently asked sporting federations to exclude athletes from the countries pursuing Russia's penetration of Ukraine past year.

However, the IOC's connection past week said "no jock should beryllium prevented from competing conscionable due to the fact that of their passport".

Last month, president of the IOC Thomas Bach spoke of not wishing to punish idiosyncratic athletes for the actions of their governments and Russia has said a run to exclude it from planetary athletics volition fail.