Russia-Ukraine war: Latvia warns to boycott 2024 Olympics if Russia, Belarus included

Latvia has warned that it will boycott the 2024 Olympics and its qualifying games should the event include athletes from Russia and Belarus. Latvia has joined Ukraine in solidarity in threatening to skip the international sporting event for as long as the war continues.

The Latvian National Olympic Committee issued a statement on Wednesday, showing solidarity with Ukraine as it warned to boycott the 2024 Olympics and the qualifiers should Russian and Belarusian athletes be included. The committee said that for as long as the war continues, including athletes from Russia and from Belarus – which has aided Russia in its aggression on Ukraine – is “unacceptable.

“For as long as there is an ongoing war in Ukraine, participation of the Russian and Belarusian athletes in the Olympic Games under any flag is unacceptable,” said the committee, adding that the presence of Russia and Belarus at the international event meant an “encouragement for further escalation of warfare and normalization of war crimes and brutal violence.”

Kyiv has also threatened to boycott the upcoming games. However, Russia has said that attempts to exclude it from the event would fail. Athletes from Russia and Belarus have largely been banned from international events since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year.

Despite the warnings of boycotts, the International Olympic Committee has opened the door for Russia and Belarus’ participation in the games as neutrals. The 2024 Paris Games would be held from July 26 to August 11 and the Paralympic Games would take place from August 28 to September 8.

Meanwhile, a former commander of the Russian Wagner mercenary group told Reuters on Wednesday he wanted to apologize for fighting in Ukraine and sought to speak out to bring the perpetrators of the atrocities committed in Ukraine to justice. Andrei Medvedev, who fled to Norway from Russia on January 13, recalled witnessing the killing and mistreatment of Russian prisoners who were recruited by the group to fight on the ground in Ukraine.

Medvedev is currently seeking asylum in Norway, having joined Wagner in July 2022 on a four-month contract and at the time, witnessed two people who did not want to fight in Ukraine get shot in front of the newly recruited convicts.