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The IOC received a backlash after setting out a
path last month for athletes of both countries to earn slots for
the Olympics through Asian qualifying and to compete as
neutrals, with no flags or anthems.
Athletes from Russia and its neighbor Belarus have been banned
from many international competitions in the wake of Moscow's
invasion of Ukraine a year ago.
In a letter to Bach last week, Ukrainian athletes said the IOC
was "on the wrong side of history" after Bach had urged Ukraine
to drop threats of a boycott.
When asked if the IOC was on the wrong side of history, Bach
told reporters on Sunday: "No, history will show who is doing
more for peace. The ones who try to keep lines open, to
communicate, or the ones who want to isolate or divide.
"We're trying to find a solution that is giving justice to the
mission of sport, which is to unify, not to contribute to more
confrontation, more escalation."
Lithuania's sports minister said on Friday a group of 35
countries, including the United States, Germany and Australia,
will demand Russian and Belarusian athletes are banned from the
2024 Olympics.
Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin was quoted as saying by
TASS news agency that the calls were "absolutely unacceptable".
Bach, speaking at the Alpine skiing world championships in
Courchevel, France, said the IOC stood in "solidarity" with
Ukraine's athletes.
"With every Ukrainian athlete, we can from a human point of view
understand their reactions, we share their suffering," he said.
"Every Ukrainian athlete can be rest assured that we are
standing in full solidarity with them and that all their
comments are taken very, very seriously into consideration."
(Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter
Rutherford)
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