Latvia's national sports teams are banned from playing against the national teams of Russia and Belarus, according to amendments to the Law on Sports adopted by the Saeima on Thursday, 1 February. This is reported by the Lsm.lv portal.
It is reported that the ban will apply even if athletes from the aggressor countries participate in competitions in a neutral status. The amendments to the law also provide for a ban on the organisation of national team competitions in Latvia in which the national teams of Russia or Belarus compete under their own flag or in a neutral status. The ban applies to adult, youth and junior competitions.
"The main purpose of the adopted amendments to the law is to reiterate Latvia's solidarity with Ukraine and to fundamentally block any attempts by Russia to legitimise its war crimes through the sports industry.
The main idea of the amendments to the Law on Sports is to define at the national legislative level that Latvian teams in playing sports, such as basketball, football or hockey, cannot play mutual games with Russian and Belarusian teams of the aggressor country, either by themselves or on a neutral field.
This means that if it is determined that the Latvian national team will have to play against Russia or Belarus, international sports organisations will have to respect Latvian law," the Saeima press service said.
