OREANDA-NEWS Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Sports Committee Sergey Burlakov called on the Western media to stop promoting Russian athletes at the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing. His words are transmitted by RIA Novosti.

"I have always believed that a good journalistic material should present several positions, at least two. For some reason, media representatives from Norway, the USA, Sweden have one position: Russian athletes cannot honestly win an Olympic medal," the deputy said.

He stressed that the Russian national team is represented at the Games by great and talented athletes, but foreign journalists constantly accuse them of various offenses. "It feels like foreign media journalists are acting according to a well-established scheme: if you want people to talk about you, come up with something to blame the Olympic champions from Russia," Burlakov added.

On February 11, the President of the Russian Ski Racing Federation (FLGR) Elena Vyalbe announced a boycott of Norwegian journalists. She noted that the refusal to communicate with media representatives was caused by the statements of Norwegians about doping in Russian skiers. "Some idiots decided to become readable and covered up the failure of the first race in this way. I cannot calmly react to this," the head of the federation said.

The Olympic Games in Beijing will last until February 20. Domestic athletes perform under the auspices of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC).