Members of the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics recreation stroll in entrance of the cafeteria of the Olympic Village, in Saint-Denis, northern Paris, on July 22, 2024, forward of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Video games. (Picture by Michel Euler / POOL / AFP)
The Kremlin on Monday slammed France for blocking some Russian journalists from protecting the Paris Olympics after French officers stated they suspected a number of of being undercover spies.
In a newspaper interview over the weekend, French inside minister Gerald Darmanin stated Paris had rejected a “massive quantity” of purposes from Russian residents for media accreditation to cowl the Video games.
He advised Le Journal du Dimanche that France suspected some have been really working for Moscow’s secret companies and have been making an attempt to get entry to the Video games for “intelligence gathering” or probably “to achieve entry to pc networks with a view to perform a cyberattack.”
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Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti information company stated Monday that 5 of its textual content correspondents had been denied accreditation.
“We take into account this resolution unacceptable,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated Monday.
“It violates freedom of the media,” he added, calling on human rights teams to take up the problem.
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Russia’s human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova stated the “threats of espionage and cyberattacks cited by the French authorities are a totally absurd, unsubstantiated declare.”
Russia has been banned from competing within the Video games, which open on Friday, over its navy offensive on Ukraine.
A handful of Russian athletes who the Worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC) and particular person sports activities federations decided don’t have any connection to the navy and haven’t expressed assist for the offensive, are being allowed to compete beneath a impartial flag.
Comply with Inquirer Sports activities’ particular protection of the Paris Olympics 2024.
