The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced that the Russian and Belarusian athletes will not be allowed to participate in the parade of nations at the opening ceremony of the Paris Games.

The IOC director James McLeod said , the athletes who will be competing in the Games under a neutral flag will not participate in the parade and teams during the opening ceremony since they are individual athletes.

He said, a decision on whether they would participate in the closing ceremony had not yet been made.

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Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the move amounted to the destruction of the Olympic idea.
Russian and Belarusian athletes who qualify for the Games will do so without their flags and anthems.

Following Russia’s conflict with Ukraine, athletes from Russian and Belarusian were banned from many international sporting events.