WASHINGTON: Russia and Belarus should not be permitted to host, bid for or be awarded any international sporting events after the invasion of Ukraine, the United States and allies said in a statement released by the U.S. State Department.
The statement calls on international sporting federations to limit sponsorship opportunities for companies tied to Russian and Belarusian governments.
The statement was signed by officials from 37 countries including the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada, Belgium and the United States. China, India and countries in Latin America and Africa were not listed as participating in the statement.
The statement urged the international sporting community to show "solidarity with the people of Ukraine".
Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February drew wide international condemnation. Belarus has been a key staging area for Russian forces.
Moscow calls its activity a "special operation" that it says is not designed to occupy territory to destroy its southern neighbor's military capabilities.
As the number of refugees created by the biggest assault on a European country since World War Two surpassed 2 million, several of the most internationally famous brands added to the Kremlin's global isolation on the 13th day of the incursion.
Washington, meanwhile, imposed an immediate ban on imports of Russian energy, sparking a further increase in the oil price, which rose around 4% on Tuesday. Prices have surged more than 30% since Russia's incursion began on Russia - the world's second-largest exporter of crude - has warned the cost will skyrocket further if the West implements bans.
Despite the prospect of higher household bills, U.S. President Joe Biden said President Vladimir Putin needed to face consequences for the assault.
"The American people will deal another powerful blow to Putin's war machine," he said.
The Kremlin describes its actions as a "special operation" to disarm Ukraine and unseat leaders it calls neo-Nazis.
Ukraine and Western allies call this a baseless pretext for an invasion that has raised fears of wider conflict in Europe and could deal a further hit to the world economy as it tries to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
Civilians fled the besieged city of Sumy on Tuesday in the first successful "humanitarian corridor" opened since Russia's invasion but Ukraine accused Russian forces of shelling another evacuation route, from Mariupol in the south of the country.
Talks between Kyiv and Moscow over safe passage have previously failed, with Ukraine opposing routes out of the country to Russia or its ally Belarus. Moscow is ready to provide humanitarian corridors so people can leave capital Kyiv and four other cities - Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Mariupol - on Wednesday, Mikhail Mizintsev, head of Russia's National Defence Control Centre, was quoted as saying by the Tass news agency.
"In order to ensure the safety of civilians and foreign citizens, Russia will observe a regime of silence from 10 am Moscow time (0700 GMT) on March 9 and is ready to provide humanitarian corridors," he said. It was unclear if the proposed routes would pass through Russia or Belarus. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy renewed calls on Tuesday for no-fly zones, something the West has rejected for fears of escalating the conflict.
The United States turned down a surprise Polish offer to transfer MiG-29 fighter jets to a U.S. base in Germany to help replenish Ukraine's air force.
The prospect of flying combat aircraft from NATO territory into the war zone "raises serious concerns for the entire NATO alliance," the Pentagon said.
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