16 August 2008, 14:09
USA ask to take Olympiad away from Sochi
Next month, the US Congress is going to consider a draft appeal to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) demanding to cancel the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi as a punishment of Moscow for Russia's military actions in Georgia, the draft initiators have announced.
"We support Georgia, our friend and ally, and call the IOC to find a new place for holding the Olympiad," Reuters is quoting Allyson Schwartz, a democratic congressman from Pennsylvania.
The draft resolution was proposed by members of the House of Representatives of the US Congress Allyson Schwartz and republican Bill Shuster, who are co-chairmen of the Group in Support of Georgia.
The text of the draft runs that "Russian Federation's invasion into the Republic of Georgia, which is a sovereign and democratic country, on the eve of the Olympic Games in Beijing, makes her an undesirable host of the 2014 Winter Games."
Besides, the document notes that location of Sochi just 20 miles away from the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict zone makes this city practically untenable for hosting the Olympic Games.
Representatives Schwartz and Shuster call on legislatures of other countries to consider similar resolutions and inform Russia and the IOC that Moscow should respond for its operations against Georgia by deprivation of the right to host the Olympic Games in Sochi.
