MOSCOW, July 7. /TASS/. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has voiced its full support for a declaration by the global Non-Aligned Movement calling for maintaining political neutrality ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympics in France, the IOC press office said in a statement.

"The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has welcomed a Declaration by the Non-Aligned Movement, chaired by Azerbaijan, which unites 120 of the 193 UN Member States," the IOC statement reads.

"The Declaration, which was passed unanimously, emphasizes that ‘the participation of athletes from all 206 National Olympic Committees in [the] Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games would be a strong symbol of [the] unity of humanity,’" according to the statement.

"This position is fully aligned with the IOC recommendations for International Federations and international sports event organizers on the participation of athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport in international competitions, including qualifiers for the Olympic Games," the statement elaborated.

IOC President Thomas Bach thanked the global Non-Aligned Movement for this decision.

"The IOC warmly welcomes the support by the 120 member states of the Non-Aligned Movement," the IOC statement quoted Bach as saying. "We are greatly encouraged by this strong commitment to the unifying mission of the Olympic Games. Thank you to the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, for taking the initiative for this important resolution."

Paris will host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games between July 26 and August 11, 2024. At the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Japan, Russian archers won two silver medals.

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.