World Athletics Council imposes sanctions on Russia, Belarus

By Selcuk Bugra Gokalp

ANKARA (AA) - The World Athletics Council on Tuesday is imposing sanctions on Russia and Belarus over the war on Ukraine, according to an official statement.

For the foreseeable future, the council decided to exclude all athletes, personnel, and officials from Russia and Belarus from all World Athletics Series immediately.

Several further measures, such as the suspension of the Belarus Federation, are set to be considered in the next scheduled meeting on March 9-10.

Russia launched the war last week, including many Russian troops and equipment coming across the border from Belarus, where they had been amassing for months.

As the Russian Athletics Federation has been suspended from World Athletics since 2015, the Russian athletes would compete as a part of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC).

However, the World Athletics Council also excluded the Russian athletes, who have received Authorized Neutral Athlete (ANA) status for 2022, from World Athletics Series events for the foreseeable future.

- 'Horrified'

“The world is horrified by what Russia has done, aided and abetted by Belarus," said World Athletics President Sebastian Coe.

He added: "The unprecedented sanctions that are being imposed on Russia and Belarus by countries and industries all over the world appear to be the only peaceful way to disrupt and disable Russia’s current intentions and restore peace."

Since Russia's war on Ukraine began last Thursday, it has been met by outrage from the international community, with the EU, UK, and US implementing a range of economic sanctions on Russia.

So far, at least 136 civilians, including 13 children, have been killed and 400 others, including 26 children, injured in Ukraine, according to UN figures.

Nearly 680,000 people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries, the UN Refugee Agency said on Tuesday.