Nine Russian climbers have been already granted licenses to scale in Nepal this spring season, as Nepal’s rejects Ukraine’s request to ban Russian climbers from the Himalayas saying its mountains are “global assets.”
On Tuesday, a Nepalese tourism official stated that his nation will not prevent Russian climbers from conquering the Himalayan summits. Ukraine had previously requested that Russian climbing teams be barred from entering Nepal “until the end of the Russian invasion.”
The head of Nepal’s tourist department, Taranath Adhikari, informed the BBC that “there has been no change in our policy so far.” “We believe our mountains are global assets and any countries’ citizens willing to visit them for attainment of peace should be allowed to do so – as long as they do it within our legal provisions,” he added.
Russian athletes already have been barred from the International Olympic Committee and “many other” global athletics bodies, Ukraine’s ambassador to India and Nepal in New Delhi wrote to the Nepalese government last week.
“Taking into consideration the above, the esteemed Nepalese side is kindly requested to ban Russian mountaineering teams until the end of [the] Russian invasion into Ukraine,” the letter states, with every nation participating save Russia underlined in the original form.
The letter concludes that the raising of a Russian flag above Nepal’s mountains is a “matter of deep moral concern.”
Nevertheless, authorities at Nepal’s consulate in New Delhi informed the BBC that they had “received no communication” concerning Ukraine’s petition, in addition to Adhikari’s remark.
Nine Russian climbers have been already granted licenses to scale in Nepal this spring season, as per the BBC. One person has been given permission to hike Annapurna I (8,091 meters), and eight others have been given permission to climb peaks below 6,500 meters.
“We are professional operators, and we serve our clients irrespective of their nationalities,” Dambar Parajuli, president of the Expedition Operators Association of Nepal, told the BBC.
Aside from athletic restrictions, Russians have lately noticed their stores and restaurants vandalized in a number of western cities, their property taken in the United Kingdom, and their countrymen excluded from the worlds of classical music and high culture.
The other week, Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced Western leaders of “trying to cancel the whole of our thousand-year-old country, our people.” The Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier in the month that it was concerned about “the unprecedented level of Russophobia” and that “those responsible will be brought to responsibility in accordance with the current law.”
After a seven-year stalemate over Kiev’s refusal to fulfill the provisions of the Minsk accords, and Russia’s ultimate acknowledgment of the Donbass republics in Donetsk and Lugansk, Moscow moved soldiers into Ukraine in late February.
The agreement, negotiated by Germany and France, was intended to normalize the situation of those territories inside the Ukrainian state.
Russia has now insisted that Ukraine proclaim itself a neutral nation that would never join the NATO alliance. Kiev believes the Russian onslaught was unwarranted and refutes suggestions that it was plotting a military takeover of Donbass.
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A wise and most certainly a very courageous decision. Well done, Nepal!