MOSCOW, March 4. /TASS/. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) should clarify inconsistencies in its stance regarding Russian athletes and athletes from countries involved in the conflict in the Middle East concerning their participation in international competitions, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
The IOC announced on Tuesday that sports must remain a unifying force in a world shaken by conflicts, divisions and tragedies.
"I view this statement as the right stance to hold. I just don't understand why a different stance is applied to us [Russia] and Belarus. The IOC should clarify these discrepancies," Peskov said in an interview with Russian sports television channel Match TV.
On February 28, the US and Israel launched a military operation against Iran. The strikes targeted major Iranian cities, including Tehran. The White House justified the attack by citing missile and nuclear threats it said were emanating from Tehran. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced a large-scale retaliatory operation, striking targets inside Israel.
US bases in Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE and Saudi Arabia also came under attack. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and several other key figures of the Islamic republic’s leadership were killed.
