MOSCOW, July 26. /TASS/. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has evolved into a kind of old boy network, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko told TASS on Wednesday.

Earlier, IOC President Thomas Bach told reporters that the IOC would not set any kind of timeline for a decision on the admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes to the Paris Olympics.

"The statement of the chief of the International Olympic Committee was not news for us. Long ago, the IOC turned from an organization which stood up for athletes’ interests into a body where gerontocracy and the monopoly of chosen nations thrive," Chernyshenko said.

"Our country has a lot of expertise, motivation and prospects to hold its own events on the same scale as the Olympic Games or even cooler. Russia will not be isolated from international sport, as very soon our country will host the International University Sports Festival featuring representatives from the SCO, BRICS and CIS, and in 2024 the Games of the Future, the Friendship Games and the BRICS Games will be held for the first time," he said. "We are convinced that we will be able to prepare a worthy response to the global sport lobby’s actions."

On March 28, the IOC issued recommendations that athletes from Russia and Belarus be allowed to compete in international tournaments only as neutrals, provided that they have not made public statements in support of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and are not affiliated with the Russian Armed Forces and national security agencies. Many international federations have not yet developed criteria for the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to the competitions.