Ukraine could drop boycott of competitions with participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes

Kyiv could drop a threatened boycott of next year's Paris Olympics if athletes from Russia and Belarus, allies in the war in Ukraine, compete under a neutral flag rather than their national colours, Ukraine's sports minister told Reuters, Report informs.

Vadym Huttsait said there had been no decision to soften Ukraine's stance but indicated Kyiv could be open to reversing a policy that would likely rule out Ukrainian athletes from the summer games.

In April, Ukraine barred its national sports teams from competing in Olympic, non-Olympic, and Paralympic events that have competitors from Russia and Belarus - regardless of the flag athletes from those two countries compete under.

"We have started discussions with the presidents of federations, the federations themselves, and the sportspeople," he said, referring to the neutral flag proposal for Russian and Belarusian athletes.

"If this will happen, will we participate or not? The decision has not been made yet, and therefore there is no softening yet," he said.

A decree issued by Huttsait late on Wednesday clearly bars Ukrainian nationals from competing against Russian and Belarusian competitors if those athletes are associated with their national flags.

But the decree says nothing about a bar if the athletes compete as neutrals. Rather, it sets down procedures to withdraw Ukrainian competitors should Russian and Belarusian athletes fail to stick to the terms of competing as neutrals, without flags, anthems, or national symbols.