MOSCOW, September 27. /TASS/. The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) has cut staff by 25% due to sanctions imposed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), ROC President Stanislav Pozdnyakov said in an interview with TASS.

"Certainly, the current situation does not inspire the staff, since one of the main tasks of the ROC is making preparations for the Olympic Games and the participation itself," Pozdnyakov said. "The fact that we did not receive an invitation to Paris 2024 [Olympics] does not add any joy. Moreover, we had to significantly cut our staff. The reason is simple - the amount of work directly related to international Olympic events has decreased significantly," the ROC chief explained.

"We had to make personnel decisions. We were able to help a number of our former staff members to find jobs with some Russia-wide sports federations; they are now working in the same building, doing the amount of work necessary for the relevant Russia-wide sports federations," he elaborated.

"These are specialists with good experience. The staff has been reduced by a quarter in total. However, as soon as the Olympic Games become open to us again, we will ask them to come back. Our main task now is to ensure that those specialists who have skills, knowledge and competencies do not leave the industry," Pozdnyakov added.

In February 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 the situation in Ukraine as grounds for the ban. In late March 2023, the IOC Executive Board recommended that international sports federations allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete but only as neutrals, and provided that they have not made any public statements in support of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and are not affiliated with the Russian Armed Forces or national security agencies. In addition, Russian and Belarusian athletes cannot participate in team events. There is no decision yet on their participation in the Paris Olympics, scheduled to be held from July 26 to August 11, 2024.