Speaking to POLITICO from his office in Kyiv, Oleksiy Perevezentsev, president of the Curling Federation of Ukraine, said that, “what is also troubling is that really nothing has changed. We just have completely unfair conditions for Ukrainian athletes,” while pointing to the ongoing destruction of his country’s sports facilities at the hands of Putin.
“We have more than 500 sports infrastructure sites, which have been partially or completely destroyed,” Perevezentsev said, shortly after an air raid siren delayed the start of the interview. “The latest was last week in Sumy. It’s a huge Olympic infrastructure facility that was completely destroyed by Russian missiles and drones.”
He also accused World Curling of violating the International Olympic Committee current guide for Russian athletes. “Also, they actually violated good governance in the sense that the proposal of the International Olympic Committee was only to return young people, not young people – another category, which can actually be drafted into the Russian army. It is the category 18 to 21,” he said.
In Geneva, Perevezentsev hopes that a coalition of European allies will push to postpone the return of Russian adult athletes, as reintegration risks pleasing Putin and the Kremlin, he said.
“In the current context, legalization risks becoming legitimacy. And once that line is crossed, rebuilding confidence in international sports will be very difficult,” Bidnyi, the sports minister, added.
