MOSCOW, February 5. /TASS/. Russia’s Summer and Winter Spartakiad Games should be held on a biennial basis, Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin said on Monday.

"The frequency of the Spartakiad Games will be determined in the near future," Matytsin said. "The Spartakiad Games were initially scheduled to be held once every four years."

"Considering the fact that we need as many tournaments as possible for all of our athletes, so that they get as much competition as possible and the country’s regions work more actively, we believe that the Spartakiad Games could be held more often - once every two years," the minister added.

The next all-Russia Winter Spartakiad is scheduled to be held between February 9 and 18, 2024 in the Krasnodar and Krasnoyarsk territories, as well as in the Sverdlovsk, Tyumen and Chelyabinsk Regions bringing together over 2,500 athletes vying for 108 sets of medals in 14 Olympic competitions.

The all-Russia Summer Spartakiad was held in 12 constituencies of the country between August 10 and October 2, 2022, with over 9,500 athletes competing for medals in 39 sports.

IOC sanctions against Russia

On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee 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.

In late March, 2023, the IOC recommended 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.

On July 26, 2023, the IOC extended invitations to the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris to 203 National Olympic Committees. Russia and Belarus did not receive invitations. The IOC explained later that there was no deadline regarding the issue of Russian and Belarusian athletes’ participation.

On October 12, 2023, the International Olympic Committee suspended the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) until further notice after the Russian organization included the Olympic councils of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions as its members.