Switzerland is demanding that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) exclude Russian and Belarusian officials from top positions in international sports federations. 

The Swiss Minister of Sport, Viola Amherd, sent a letter to IOC President Thomas Bach whose organisation is based in the Swiss city of Lausanne. According to Keystone-SDA news agency, the letter states that in view of the situation in Ukraine it is no longer sufficient to exclude athletes from the two countries from competitions abroad. Some 53 international sports organisations have their head office in the Alpine country, 46 of them in canton Vaud on Lake Geneva.

In March, a group of around 30 countries, including Switzerland, issued a declaration calling for effective measures to be taken by international sports federations against Russia and Belarus.

On Saturday, Christoph Lauener, head of communications at the Swiss Federal Office of Sport said that Switzerland had taken a clear position with the statement. However, the international sports federations are organised under private law. The IOC has much more effective means than the state and can exclude the federations from the Olympic family if necessary, he added. 

Swiss Olympic, the Swiss Olympic Committee, supports the government's position. 

'We would like equal treatment of athletes and officials,' media spokesman Alexander Wäfler told Swiss media.

According to Swiss Olympic, many officials have closer ties to the regimes in Moscow and Minsk than the athletes. The IOC has not yet released a statement on the issue. 

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