LONDON (Reuters) - The British government has written to Olympic sponsors urging them to pressure the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over its proposal to allow Russians and Belarusians to compete at next year’s Paris Games, British media reported on Saturday.
The IOC is facing a mounting backlash after setting out a pathway in January for competitors from Russia and its ally Belarus to earn Olympic slots through Asian qualifying and to compete as neutral athletes in Paris.
Britain’s Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer addressed the letter to the UK chief executives of 13 of the Olympics’ biggest sponsors, including Coca-Cola, Samsung and Visa, outlining the government’s concerns.
“We know sport and politics in Russia and Belarus are heavily intertwined, and we are determined that the regimes in Russia and Belarus must not be allowed to use sport for their propaganda purposes,” Frazer wrote.
“As long as our concerns and the substantial lack of clarity and concrete detail on a workable ‘neutrality’ model are not addressed, we do not agree that Russian and Belarusian athletes should be allowed back into competition.”
Ukraine has threatened to boycott the Paris Games if Russian and Belarusian athletes compete.
The British government issued a joint statement last month with 34 other nations calling on the IOC to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from its competitions.