The International Olympic Committee wants to “explore ways” to reintegrate Russian and Belarusian athletes, who have been banned from international competitions since the end of February due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, its president Thomas Bach said on Wednesday, AFP reports.

“We need to explore ways to overcome this dilemma of athlete participation to return to sporting merit rather than political interference,” Bach told reporters.

This position of the IOC is not new, but Thomas Bach elaborated on it, without outlining the ways and deadlines: “it needs further consultations and they are ongoing, so there is no fixed date,” he evaded.

Since the invasion of Ukraine in the midst of the Olympic truce during the Winter Olympics in Beijing, the IOC has distinguished between “sanctions” imposed on Russia and Belarus and “protective measures” for athletes who are not restrained in any way. are responsible for the actions of their governments.

“There are no changes in our position. Sanctions should remain in force,” that is, banning the flags of the two countries and holding competitions on their territory due to “violation of the Olympic Charter,” the head of the Olympic Charter said. Olympians

But the ban on the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes, “recommended” by the IOC to international federations at the end of February, was always presented by the Olympic body as a measure to protect the integrity of competitions and the safety of athletes, adopted “with regret” and subject to regular review.

“We had to act against our own values,” doing “something we never did and never wanted to do, which was to prevent athletes from competing just because of their passports,” Thomas Bach recalled.

After a debate in the IOC’s executive committee that lasted “four hours” on Wednesday morning, the topic will also be included on the agenda of the 11th Olympic Summit, which will be held on Friday in Lausanne, behind closed doors, in the presence of representatives of international federations and three national Olympic committees: China, USA and Russia.