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BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany have pulled out of
next month's European track championships to be held in Minsk
and have asked for an "alternative solution" because of the
situation in Belarus, the country's cycling federation said on
Tuesday.
Belarus scrambled a warplane to force a passenger plane to land
in the capital Minsk and arrested a dissident journalist who was
on board on Sunday, drawing criticism from the European Union
and the United States for an act denounced by Western countries
as "state piracy".
Separately, Minsk airport in Belarus on Monday suspended
boarding of a German Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt and searched
the plane, saying it had received a warning about a possible
terrorist act that had not been confirmed.
"The German cycling federation (BDR), following the incidents on
the weekend, has contacted the European Cycling Union (UEC) and
made it clear that under the circumstances a participation of
the German track cycling national team at the European
championships in Minsk/Belarus (June 23-27) is not possible, and
pushed for an alternative solution," the federation said in a
statement.
"The UEC also views this situation very critically and will
discuss it on Thursday at the meeting of the management board in
Lausanne and take a decision."
Minsk had originally been supposed to co-host the Ice Hockey
World Championship with Riga this month but was stripped of the
right to do so after a crackdown on anti-government protesters
following a contested presidential election last August and due
to the coronavirus pandemic.
(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber and Maria Vasilyeva;
Writing by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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