A letter addressed to the IOC condemned the ‘discrimination and undeserved exclusion of Russian athletes’ from sports
Russian athletes have penned a letter to International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Thomas Bach, demanding equal treatment and highlighting claims of missile attacks by Ukraine which have killed citizens in Donetsk.
In its correspondence, the Athletes’ Commission of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) mentioned shelling on March 14 which local leaders in Donetsk said came from Ukrainian armed forces and killed 17 people.
“Children were among the victims, and their names will soon appear on a mourning plaque on the Walk of Angels in Donetsk, one of the world’s most mournful memorials,” the letter read.
READ MORE: Civilians killed as Donetsk hit by ballistic missile, the DPR says
The Athletes’ Commission condemned what it described as “the barbaric, inhuman attack,” while expressing its condolences and attempting to draw the IOC’s attention to what it claimed were “similar crimes… committed with the direct involvement of the Ukrainian authorities for the last eight years, including during the so-called ‘Olympic Truce'”.
“With pain in our hearts, we are forced to acknowledge that the deaths of innocent people as a result of the atrocities of Ukrainian nationalists all these years were unnoticed by the International Olympic Committee,” the letter continued.
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