Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba commented on FIFA's refusal to broadcast the speech of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky before the final of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Argentina - France.
Dmitry Kuleba“We will destroy the wall that says “Sport is out of politics”. FIFA's refusal to show President Zelensky's call for peace ahead of the World Cup final has once again shown the hypocrisy called "Sport is out of politics". But we will destroy this Carthage. World sports organizations and functionaries have been hiding behind this phrase for too long. In fact, ordinary cowardice has always stood and is behind it. It becomes most obvious when it comes to peace and war. And especially such an unfair one as Russian aggression against Ukraine. Where black and white, good and evil are so obvious.
When they tell me that Russian and Belarusian athletes are allegedly not responsible for the crimes of their countries and should be allowed to compete, I ask: “What about the 184 Ukrainian athletes who will no longer take part in any competitions, because they killed by Russia?“ Over this year, we have broken many walls in the minds of foreigners. Regarding the supply of weapons, the imposition of sanctions, the general perception of the war. We will also destroy the wall of indifference and hypocrisy of world sports organizations to Russia's criminal aggression," Kuleba wrote on his Instagram page.
