PARIS, July 21. /TASS/. The French government denied accreditation to a number of Russian journalists, who applied to cover the Olympic Games, ‘out of precaution,’ Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said in an interview to Le Journal du Dimanche.

"We turned down a large number of journalists who claimed they wanted to cover the Games. On the other hand, we allowed Russians, who work with the International Olympic Committee (IOC). We are guided by the principle of precaution," he said.

In his words, French special services examined over 960,000 applications filed from all over the world, and rejected 4,340 of them. This included volunteers, journalists and members of sporting delegations, he said.

The Paris Olympics will take place between July 26 and August 11. The opening ceremony will take place at Seine. Considering the high risk of potential threats at the opening ceremony, which will proceed along the Seine embankment and the Trocadero Square, a decision was made to reduce the number of spectators from 600,000 to 326,000. Before the games begin, special QR codes will be issued for movement near Olympic facilities and Paris embankments.