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IOC says Russian commentators personally attacked IOC President Thomas Bach
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced that Olympic President Thomas Bach has been the target of a hoax phone call from a Russian group posing as the African Union Commission.
The callers wanted to discuss issues surrounding Russia's involvement in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
On Tuesday, athletes from Russia and Belarus were banned by the IOC from participating in the opening ceremony.
Russia's reaction to the ruling was “extremely aggressive”, the IOC said.
The IOC on Thursday released details of what it called “another incident in Russia's disinformation and defamation campaign” against the organization and Mr. Bach, a former Olympic fencer from Germany.
“The fake call purporting to be from the African Union Commission appears to have come from the very same group that has already attacked a number of world political leaders and other high-ranking figures in similar ways,” the IOC said in a statement. said.
“During the telephone conversation, a person posing as the President of the African Union Commission asked for a discussion from the IOC against the politicization of sport, particularly by the Russian government, and said he wanted to prepare a statement against such politicization. I was there.”
In September, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was caught on the phone by Russian disinformation agents and made off-handed comments about the international community's fatigue over the Ukraine conflict.
The IOC previously said it had been the target of “fake news posts” and “disinformation,” including a documentary series narrated by an AI-generated voice impersonating Hollywood actor Tom Cruise.
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, athletes from Russia and Belarus were banned from participating in the Olympics, but they will be able to participate in the Paris Games as neutral countries.
That means participating without your country's flag, emblem, or national anthem.
Bach has claimed that the IOC is under personal attack, but he countered this by saying, “There has been an increase in very aggressive statements from Russia.''
