Russia will not boycott the Summer Olympics in Paris (July 26 – August 11)despite restrictions imposed on athletes by the International Olympic Committee as punishment for the invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reports.

>> Russia’s sports minister says his country should not boycott the Paris Olympics

This was announced by the president of the Russian Olympic Committee (OKR), Stanislav Pozdnyakov.

“We will never go down the path of boycotting (the Olympic Games). We will always support our athletes. But we emphasize that the conditions set by the IOC are illegitimate, unfair and unacceptable,” – Stanislav Pozdnyakov, former Olympic fencer, current head of the OKR.

The IOC will allow Russians and Belarusians who qualify in their sport for the Paris Olympics to compete as neutrals, without their countries’ national flags, emblems or anthems.

Neutral athletes will compete only in individual sports. Athletes who actively support the war in Ukraine, as well as those who have contracts with the Russian or Belarusian army, are not eligible, writes News.ro.

Russia strongly protested against these restrictions.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday that she would prefer Russians and Belarusians “not to come.”

Russians and Belarusians were initially banned from international competition following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, for which Belarus was used as a training ground.

In December, President Vladimir Putin threw shade at Russia’s participation in the Paris Games, saying he supported their competition but that the country should consider whether it should participate if the event was designed to portray Russian sport as “dying”.

Russian athletes have already participated in the Olympic Games several times without their flag or anthem after major doping scandals.