PRAGUE, June 29. /TASS/. The government of the Czech Republic has approved a proposal from the country’s Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports which bars Russian athletes from competing on its territory, the CTK news agency reported on Thursday.

The news agency reported that Czech athletes had been barred from participating in any sports tournaments held in Russia as well.

Czech sports federations previously urged the country’s authorities to bar Russian athletes and national teams from participating in any athletic competitions on the territory of the Czech Republic. The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports submitted this proposal earlier to the Czech authorities.

On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) 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.

At its session on January 25, 2023, the IOC Executive Board put forward a proposal 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.