"The international community is tired of Ukraine's position"

After February 2022, sports sanctions affected not only Russian representatives, but also Belarusian ones. Their athletes and teams, with rare exceptions, are also either not allowed to participate in international competitions or compete in them in a neutral status. However, recently there has been a significant shift — Belarusians were allowed to participate in the World Judo Championships in Budapest under their own flag. This caused a protest from the Ukrainian national team, which withdrew from the championship.

In an interview with Izvestia, the Minister of Sports and Tourism of Belarus, Sergei Kovalchuk, expressed the hope that following this event, sanctions in other sports would begin to be lifted, wished that this would also affect Russians, and also expressed a negative attitude towards double standards in the situation with Russia, Belarus and Israel.

"We see that a very good trend has started, and I hope it will continue."

— What was the reason for the admission of Belarusian judoka to the World Championships under their own flag?

— This is the work that has been carried out primarily by our National Olympic Committee in cooperation with the International Judo Federation over the past few years. And in many sports, we can observe a certain positive trend — in swimming, synchronized swimming, fencing, we are allowed to participate in team competitions and relay races, which was not the case until recently. I think there will be more improvements in this direction.

— But the judoists are still the first to compete under their own flag.

— Yes, but there are still steps in certain sports, not only judo, although we are glad that judoka have finally been given the opportunity to compete under their flag. We can see that there is a very good trend. I hope it will continue.

— Many people found out about the admission of Belarusian judoka under their flag after the reaction of the Ukrainian national team, which withdrew from the World Cup. In your opinion, will her behavior deter other international federations from allowing our athletes and yours under their flag? Or will no one pay attention to this demarche?

— I will say my opinion: the whole international community is probably tired of this whole position of Ukraine. Because there are enough armed conflicts in the world today, not only in Ukraine, but in many parts of the world. And what's next? We discussed this with colleagues from other sports ministries at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). And Mikhail Vladimirovich Degtyarev, the Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation, correctly said: since Pakistan is sorting out relations with India, Israel is sorting out relations with Iran, let's also suspend all athletes from these countries from participating in all international competitions. But someone else is supplying weapons to the war zone - it is necessary to consider the removal of athletes from these states. Right?

— It turns out that if Belarus, which is not participating in its conflict in Ukraine, has been suspended, then everyone who is even indirectly connected with this or that conflict should be banned.

— Absolutely right. Then we have to deal with dozens more countries and their teams. Please, let's suspend everyone. And who will benefit from this? Will the sport benefit from this? Will the world benefit from this? No. Sport, on the contrary, should be a platform for unification.

"We consider the suspension of your athletes to be as unfair as ours"

— Following the judoists, how many other sports may regain the right to perform with their own flag and anthem in the near future?

— I'm not thinking about how much right now. We try to solve the problem step by step. But I think judoists are not the only ones who will get the opportunity to perform under their national symbols in the near future. There may also be progress in martial arts and wrestling. There are very strong people in these sports, both among athletes and among managers. Knowing the situation a little from the inside, I assume that in the foreseeable future we will follow the same path.

— Maxim Mitrofanov, Secretary General of the Russian Federation, does not rule out that UEFA may allow Russian teams to participate in its competitions in the format it allows Belarusian teams to play in 2021 — home matches on neutral fields. In this case, what will our clubs and national teams face first?

— First of all, there will be financial problems. Because today we are all working for the basket of those countries that host the home matches of Belarusian football teams. For clubs competing in the Champions League, Europa League, Conference League, and for our men's and women's teams of all ages and disciplines competing in the World and European Championships qualifiers, it is important to arrange all the conditions — flights, accommodation, and training facilities — in the countries where they play, be it Serbia or Hungary.. It all costs money. Well, in any case, it's not easy to always play outside of your native walls and without your audience.

— In your opinion, will the same progress be made in relation to Russian athletes in the near future that began with respect to Belarusian athletes?

— We really hope so. We support our colleagues from Russia, and we are in constant contact through the ministries of sports, national Olympic committees, and sports federations. We exchange consultations and support the Russian agenda at the level of international sports organizations. We consider the suspension of your athletes to be as unfair as ours. Therefore, we believe and hope that the progress that has been made in relation to Belarusian sports will soon be made in relation to Russian sports.