The Ukrainian Paralympic Committee now claims that the nation will remain in Sochi for the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games as a method of encouraging peace. Should Russia send troops to invade Ukraine however, the nation will in turn leave the Games.
Reuters reports that the nation’s Paralympic Committee president Valeriy Sushkevich has officially agreed to allow the team to participate in the upcoming Games. As tension remains between the Ukraine and Russia, Sushkevich has advised athletes to behave accordingly. He also spoke with Russian president Vladimir Putin on his hopes for peace throughout the Games.
“If there is an escalation of the conflict, intervention on the territory of our country, God forbid the worst, we would not be able to stay here, we would go,” Sushkevich said to members of the press. “I repeated my one request, the one and most important request, that before and during the Games there will be peace.”
According to CNN, the International Paralympic Committee has been supportive in Ukraine’s decision making process.
“All week the IPC has been working closely with the Ukrainian Paralympic Committee in an effort to keep them here in Sochi,” IPC chairman Philip Craven told reporters. “The talking point of Sochi 2014 needs to be great sport and great athletes, not global politics.”
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