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IOC not to formally invite Russia, Belarus to 2024 Olympic Games in Paris

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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will not extend a formal invitation for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris to the national teams of Russia and Belarus, the IOC informed on July 13.

Some 203 eligible national Olympic committees (NOCs) will receive their invitations to Paris on July 26, excluding Russia and Belarus due to their armed aggression against Ukraine.

Guatemala will also be excluded as its participation has been suspended since September 2022.

This decision does not extend to individual athletes with Russian and Belarusian passports. In March 2023, the IOC recommended that Russian and Belarusian athletes be again allowed to participate in international competitions, provided they do so as "individual neutral athletes."

The IOC has not yet taken a decision on Russian and Belarusian citizens competing as neutral athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games but promised to resolve the issue at an "appropriate time."

Over 30 countries have urged the IOC to continue its ban on Russia and Belarus from competing in international sporting events, including the 2024 Olympic Games.

Ukraine's government announced it will boycott all competitions with Russian or Belarusian athletes.

Media: 6 Russians in International Olympic Committee support war against Ukraine
Six Russian nationals affiliated with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) support Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, according to an investigation by the sports news outlet Tribuna, published on June 19. Tribuna added that they have notified the IOC but were ignored.
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Martin Fornusek

Senior News Editor

Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.

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The Kyiv Independent staff documented what it feels like to live and sleep in Kyiv, Ukraine, as Russia intensifies its drone and missile attacks on the city. Filmed over several weeks in June and July, our journalists take shelter in bathrooms, basements, and parking garages as explosions ring out overhead.

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