MOSCOW, December 13. /TASS/. Russia continues in its fight against the powers that are trying to "torpedo" the development of international sports cooperation and politicize it, a Russian Foreign Ministry’s diplomat said on Wednesday.

"There are forces trying to torpedo the development of international sports cooperation in order to serve their vested political interests," Mikhail Khorev, the ministry’s envoy for international sports cooperation, said speaking at the presentation ceremony of the "Children of Asia Games" in the Russian capital of Moscow.

According to him, Russia "is consistent and firm on its path" against the politicization of sports for the sake of certain countries.

"We will do our best on our part to promote the normal, fair development of international sports cooperation," Khorev stated. "This goes for strengthening of our country’s positions in the international sports world."

The Russian diplomat added that taking into account the context of the upcoming competition, the 2024 Children of Asia Games would make "a significant contribution to the development of international sports cooperation and will serve as an obvious example of fair depoliticized sports that Russia supports and strictly adheres to."

The Children of Asia Games were held for the first time in 1996. Next year, they will be hosted by Russia’s northern city of Yakutsk between June 25 and July 7. Young athletes are set to vie for 224 sets of medals in 24 sports competitions.

On October 12, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) until further notice after the Russian organization included the Olympic councils of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions as its members.

The Swiss-based CAS registered on November 6 an appeal from the ROC against the IOC’s decision on the Russian governing Olympic body’s suspension.

The suspension means that the ROC cannot act as a national Olympic committee or receive financing from the Olympic movement. The IOC however reserved the right to clear Russian athletes to take part in the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024 as neutrals. Later, IOC President Thomas Bach said that Russian athletes should have no affiliation with the ROC if they want to compete at the Olympic Games.

IOC sanctions against Russia, Belarus

On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.

Following the IOC’s recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.

In late March, 2023, the IOC recommended to permit individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in international sports tournaments, but only under certain conditions. Specifically, athletes from the two countries should not be "actively supporting" Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and must compete under a neutral status. Russia and Belarus were also banned from participating in international team events.

On July 26, 2023, the IOC extended invitations to the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris to 203 National Olympic Committees. Russia and Belarus did not receive invitations. The IOC explained later that there was no deadline regarding the issue of Russian and Belarusian athletes’ participation.