IOC President responds to Lavrov's accusations, publicly condemns Russian authorities

This was reported by The Guardian.

Thomas Bach reacted to the statement of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who accused the IOC President of betraying the ideals of the Olympic movement

"Every day we are seeing even more aggressive statements from the Russian government and officials. What is remarkable is that this aggressivity is coming from the very same government that was behind the scandalous manipulation of the anti-doping system before, during and after the Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014," Bach said.

The IOC President is convinced that Russia has grossly violated the Olympic Charter.

"What is also significant is that the Russian government apparently is ignoring the fact that they forced us into action by their invasion and their annexation of parts of Ukraine. They even obliged the Russian Olympic Committee to also annex parts under the jurisdiction of the NOC of Ukraine. This is the origin of all this: the blatant violation of the Olympic Charter led us to our actions," said Thomas Bach.

The 2024 Summer Olympic Games will take place in Paris from 26 July to 11 August.

• On 8 December, the IOC allowed athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete in the 2024 Games in neutral status.