British News Agency

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Sybiha reacted to the IOC's decision regarding the Ukrainian athlete, saying, “The IOC did not punish the Ukrainian athlete, but its own reputation. Future generations will remember this as a shameful moment. He just wanted to honor his fallen athlete friends in the war. There is nothing wrong with this from a rule or ethical standpoint.”

Sybiha also pointed out that the Committee had failed to confront Russia systematically, the greatest abuser of international sports and the Olympic Charter, adding:

“Over the past thirty years, Russia has attempted to invade three times during the Olympic Truce, implemented the largest state-backed doping program, killed 650 Ukrainian athletes and coaches, and destroyed 800 sports facilities in Ukraine. It is the Russians who should be banned, not those who want to commemorate their victims. None of them is ‘neutral’.”

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna also expressed his opinion on the matter:

“The disqualification of Ukrainian athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych for honoring the victims of Russian aggression is an indefensible situation. This is not about equipment rules, it is about silencing the voice of a nation under attack. Honoring those who died in Russia’s war is not a violation, it is our moral duty. When remembrance is punished, neutrality becomes complicity.”