France refuses Russian volunteers Olympic accreditation
France has rejected the accreditation applications of more than 20 Russian citizens who wanted to go to Paris as volunteers during the upcoming Summer Olympics, one of the Russian accreditation applicants told TASS after receiving a written rejection from the Paris 2024 Organising Committee.
“Yesterday I received an official letter saying that the French authorities have rejected my application to volunteer at the Olympics,” she said. “I contacted more than 20 Russians with whom I worked at several Olympic Games and who also applied to be volunteers. All of these people, who have a great deal of expertise, were also turned down.”
“The Organising Committee wrote to me that they did not know the reasons why the French authorities rejected my application. In accordance with the French Internal Security Code, the Organising Committee sent my details to the competent administrative authority for verification. Only after their approval could I have been accredited, but unfortunately my application was rejected”.
Asked by journalists whether there would be any restrictions on Russian and Belarusian volunteers, Alexandre Morenon-Conde, Paris 2024’s volunteer programme director, said on 21 March 2023 that the volunteer programme was open to all without any exclusions.
The Olympic Games will be held in Paris from 26 July to 11 August. Some 45,000 volunteers are expected to take part. “I am very upset about the rejection. Considering that many volunteers from Russia have participated in previous Olympic Games, I believe that all applicants with Russian passports have been denied accreditation,” she concluded.