MOSCOW, July 8. /TASS/. Athletes from Russia and Belarus have been cleared to participate under a neutral status at the 2023 Asian Games in China this fall, the InsideTheGames sports web portal reported on Saturday.

"Up to 500 athletes from Russia and Belarus will be allowed to compete at this year's re-arranged Asian Games in Hangzhou to help them qualify for next year's Olympics in Paris. It was agreed today," InsideTheGames reported.

"It will be up to the governing bodies of each of the 31 sports [federations] on the program for Paris 2024 to decide whether they allow athletes from Russia and Belarus take part in the event," the sports daily reported.

The 2023 Asian Games are scheduled to be held in Hangzhou, China, from September 23 to October 8 of this year. The event was initially scheduled to be held last year at the same venue, but was rescheduled to a later date due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the potential for it to spread among people traveling to mainland China.

French capital of Paris is scheduled to host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games between July 26 and August 11, 2024.

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.