Calls for a boycott of the Winter Olympics in Sochi next year could destroy the atmosphere and will only harm athletes, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.
"Attempts by certain forces to poison the atmosphere in the run-up to the games and to politicise the Olympics run counter to the Olympic movement's principles," an unnamed ministry source told the Interfax news agency.
The source added that the boycotts of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow and the 1984 Games in Los Angeles had achieved nothing.
Some rights activists and politicians have suggested a boycott after Russian government officials confirmed that a controversial law banning "gay propaganda" to minors would be enforced at the games, scheduled for February 7-23, 2014.
On Tuesday, German lawmaker Johannes Kahrs said that the games should be moved to Vancouver, Canada.
"In Canada, no homosexual athlete would have to be afraid," Kahrs, a Social Democrat member of the Bundestag, said in an email. He added that it would be easy to change the venue because Vancouver, which hosted the last Winter Olympics in 2010, already has the necessary infrastructure.
