Putin apologises to Russian athletes

During the meeting with participants of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Russian President Putin apologised for the fact that Russia could not protect Russian athletes in the doping scandal.

Photo: Source: Kremlin.ru

At the same time, the Russian president stressed that Russia would always support the idea of clean sport. Putin wished the athletes to concentrate on the Games and not to think about all the negative things that the athletes have to deal with when preparing for the competitions.

"Please, forgive us for not protecting you from this," Putin said adding that Russia would continue supporting the athletes that go to South Korea for the Winter Games 2018.

"We hope that our colleagues in international sports organisations will do everything to ensure that these organisations and sports associations do not turn into state institutions of individual countries, no matter how powerful and important those countries might seem to be at first sight. "I sincerely wish you victories and good luck," Putin told the athletes.

Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the president, at a meeting on Wednesday, reminded members of the government of the decision to organise sports competitions for those Russian athletes who had been suspended from the Olympic Games in South Korea. No details about those arrangements have been clarified.

Pravda.Ru

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