russia misled the IOC

This concerns the activities of the russian Olympic Committee in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

With these words, the russian official effectively confirmed an attempt to deceive the International Olympic Committee in order to have the restrictions lifted. To secure the formal lifting of the suspension, the ROC resorted to legal manoeuvres: it removed the provisions on regional Olympic councils from its statutes and assured the IOC in writing that it would not carry out any activities in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

However, Degtyarev boasts to his domestic audience that this is merely a formal change to the ‘organisational structure’ designed to divert attention. According to his logic, Moscow has ‘outsmarted’ the international body, as the ROC continues to regard these territories as its own, whilst actual activities in the annexed lands will simply be transferred to the russian Ministry of Sport, which Degtyarev also heads.

Such behaviour is a classic example of the Kremlin’s tactics: signing official commitments in order to return to world sport, whilst simultaneously devising loopholes to circumvent them.

Source: Centre for Countering Disinformation