International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach on Wednesday implored politicians to “keep politics and sports separate,” defending the committee’s plan to include Russian and Belarusian athletes in the 2024 Paris Games, CNN reported.

Olympic GamesPhoto: EyePress via AFP / AFP / Profimedia

Bach said this at a political forum in Essen, Germany.

“If politics decides who can compete, then sports and athletes become instruments of politics,” Bach said during a German-language speech that lasted more than an hour.

“Then sport cannot convey its unifying power. We must be politically neutral, but not apolitical. We know very well that the world is ruled by politics. We are well aware that our decisions have political consequences, and we must take this into account in our deliberations,” he continued.

“But we must not make the mistake of being arbiters in political disputes, because we will be crushed by this political force,” he concluded.

According to Reuters, Bach said that “Ukraine wants, and this is a direct quote, the total isolation of all Russians.” Part of the audience greeted this remark with applause.

But Bach called the request a “dilemma” and an “absolutely new situation.”

“If we exclude athletes for political reasons, we will face the decline of the international sports system,” the IOC president said.

In January, the IOC presented a multi-stage plan for the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the upcoming 2024 Summer Games in Paris and the 2026 Winter Games in Milan.

The plan would allow participants to compete as neutral athletes without representing their country of origin with a flag, anthem, uniform or other identification.

The US, Canada and most European countries criticized this decision. Last month, the United States and more than 30 other “like-minded” countries supported a proposal to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in international sports competitions.

Ukraine does not rule out boycotting the Olympics if Russian and Belarusian athletes are allowed to compete, the country’s sports minister said in January.