The 34-nation coalition has asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for “clarification” on the neutrality required for athletes from Russia and Belarus to qualify for the 2024 Olympics, in a letter sent to Olympic body on Monday. AFP reports.

The letter is the result of a conference held on February 11 between the sports ministers of 34 countries, including France, Great Britain, Sweden, Poland, the United States and Canada.

“We are very concerned about the feasibility of the participation of Russian and Belarusian Olympians as “neutrals” (…) while they are financed and supported by their states.

We firmly believe, given the fact that the situation regarding Russian aggression in Ukraine (…) has not changed (…), that there is no reason to revise the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes, adopted by the IOC.

Until these fundamental issues, as well as the brutal lack of clarity and concrete details regarding the definition of “neutrality,” are addressed, we do not agree that Russian and Belarusian athletes are allowed to return to competition.

We call on the IOC to consider these issues, which affect all countries, and revise its proposal accordingly,” said the corresponding letter, which is the result of a conference held on February 11 between the sports ministers of 34 states, reports Agerpres.

The Ukrainian president also spoke during the conference Volodymyr Zelenskyi. He especially tried to convince the ministers, assessing that the presence of Russian athletes at the Games in Paris would be “a sign of violence and impunity.”

Russian and Belarusian athletes were banned from most international competitions after the Russian military invaded Ukraine in February 2022, with international federations following IOC “guidelines”.

But since then, the International Olympic Committee has detailed its position and in late January proposed a road map for organizing the return of these athletes under a neutral flag, provided that they “did not actively support the war in Ukraine.”

After this proposal, Kyiv immediately threatened to boycott the 2024 Olympics, accusing the IOC of “promoting war, crime and destruction.”

Since then, a front has been organized in support of Kyiv, even if only a few states are considering a boycott, such as Estonia and Poland.