Two members of the US House of Representatives introduced a measure Friday calling on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to strip Russia of the 2014 Winter Olympics and designate a new host city, according to US media publications.

The Games are scheduled to be held in southern Russia's Black Sea city of Sochi, near the separatist Abkhazia region, which is involved in the military conflict between Russia and Georgia over the other separatist province of South Ossetia.

The symbolic measure, called the "No Russian Olympics" resolution, states that Russia's incursion into Georgia "makes it an unacceptable host for the 2014 Winter Games."

It notes that Sochi "is only 20 miles away from the conflict zone, making it on a practical level an unacceptable location for the Olympics," and that the IOC would not have chosen the city as a venue if they had known what would happen.

If Russia does not abide by the September 8 agreement between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and French President Nicolas Sarkozy ending the conflict, "we will consider potential consequences such as this resolution," said Democrat Allyson Schwartz, who co-sponsored the measure with Republican Bill Shuster.

On August 30, the Czech Republic foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg has also voiced support for a boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has qualified appeals to strip Russia of its Olympic host rights as stupid. On September 3, Lavrov stated: It is harmful and stupid to politicize sports."

September 22, 2008 www.turkishweekly.net