MOSCOW, September 6. /TASS/. Russian athletes have been cleared to compete internationally in 26 out of 39 Olympic disciplines, Russian Deputy Sports Minister Alexey Morozov said on Wednesday.

"Despite the sanctions against Russian sports, we kept two of our programs in place," Morozov said speaking at the Sports Ministry’s Board meeting in Moscow. "Of course we included a Plan A and Plan B in both of these programs and the decisions regarding them were made last year and the year before."

"Plan B is now being implemented for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris," he said. "We are well aware of the situation and realize that in the majority of sports competitions our teams will be unable to take part."

"However, we believe that we must compete wherever we were cleared to participate," he said. "We have been granted access to participate [at international tournaments] in 26 out of 39 Olympic disciplines."

Next year, the French capital of Paris is set 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. Russia and Belarus were also banned from participating in international team events.