Nine Russians have been given permits to climb peaks in Nepal this spring, despite calls from Ukrainian diplomats and mountaineers for them to be banned after President Putin sent troops into Ukraine. A diplomatic note from the Ukrainian embassy in Delhi to Nepal's government says numerous international sports federations have barred Russian athletes. "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 reads. But officials in Nepal say they are continuing to issue permits to anyone abiding by the government's rules and regulations. "There has been no change in our policy so far," the director general of Nepal's tourism department, Taranath Adhikari, told the BBC. "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." (https://news.yahoo.com/ukraine-calls-nepal-ban-russian-112744002.html) The Ukrainian embassy in Delhi says it made its request to the Nepalese embassy in the Indian capital on 21 March, but Nepalese embassy officials told the BBC they had received no communication on the issue.