On Wednesday, Russia's Olympic Committee head Alexander Zhukov wrote in his Twitter that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was denied accreditation for Olympic games in London. Lukashenko is also the head of the Belarus Olympic Committee and was planning to visit the Games in that capacity. "Belarus OC head Alexander Lukashenko was denied accreditation by the Olympic Games Organizing Committee. Is sport out of politics?" Zhukov wrote on his Twitter not mentioning the reason for the "ban." 

"What about Olympic values and traditions?" Zhukov added. "Every schoolchild knows that Greece was always at peace during the Games."
Lukashenko submitted an application to get accredited for the Olympics as the head of the National Olympic Committee (NOC). All NOC heads receive accreditations for the Olympics automatically.%%

Lukashenko is on "the black list" of the European Union because of his repressive policy against the opposition in Belarus, vote rigging, and human rights violations. He has been denied entry into the EU just like hundreds of other Belarus politicians. An Olympic accreditation would be the only way for Lukashenko to enter the UK territory. 

"To deny accreditation for a NOC head is like attempting to interfere in the Olympic movement on a political basis," a source in Russia's Foreign Ministry said to Gazeta.ru. "There is a theory that by doing so, London seeks to express its hatred towards Lukashenko and that all that is going on now is like an echo of political wars."

In the beginning of 2011 the head of the European Parliament offered to impose additional sanctions on Belarus by banning Belarusian sportsmen from taking part in the Olympic games and other international sports events. 

In March 2012 the European Parliament urged the hockey federations of EU member states to boycott the 2014 hockey world championship which is due to take place in Belarus. However, the International Hockey Federation refused to re-locate the tournament from Belarus to another country.