IOC should stick to ban on Russian, Belarusian athletes, says Poland

FILE PHOTO: International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach attends the opening of the Executive Board meeting at the Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland, December 5, 2022. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/Pool

WARSAW (Reuters) - Russian and Belarusian athletes should be banned from the 2024 Olympics in Paris unless Moscow pulls its forces out of Ukraine, Poland said on Monday, after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it plans to let them compete as neutrals.

The IOC issued sanctions against Russia and Belarus following Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year but is now reluctant to exclude their athletes from the Olympics entirely for fear of a return to the boycotts of the Cold War era.