MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia slammed a decision by the International Olympic Committee to ban its athletes from the opening parade of the Paris Olympics in July, calling it a violation of the ideal of the Games.

“This is of course the destruction of the idea of Olympism, this is an infringement on the interests of Olympic athletes,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“Of course, this is absolutely contrary to the entire ideology of the Olympic movement, and this does not paint the IOC in a good light.”

The IOC announced its decision on Tuesday, calling it a logical consequence of the fact that Russia’s athletes will be competing as neutral individuals and not as a team – a measure imposed against it following the invasion of Ukraine.

The same restrictions apply to Belarus, which allowed Russia to use its territory to launch what Moscow calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine in February 2022.