MOSCOW (RT) - Russia will welcome athletes from more than 20 countries when it hosts the ‘Friendship Games’ in the city of Kazan next month, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko has said.
The games will be held from November 10 to 25, and will see more than 100 prizes handed out across a range of swimming and diving competitions.
The event comes as Russian athletes remain banned from a variety of international tournaments because of the conflict in Ukraine.
Russian officials, however, have compensated by organizing their own tournaments and have discussed strengthening sporting ties with nations in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SOC) and BRICS group, as well as elsewhere.
“On behalf of the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, we are maintaining the level of competitive activity of our athletes,” said Chernyshenko as he discussed the ‘Friendship Games’ in a statement this week.
The ‘Friendship Games’ will be held with the support of the Russian Sports Ministry, as well as the Ministry of Sports of the Republic of Tatarstan and a number of national sports federations.
Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin praised the games as a way to “bring athletes together and underline our commitment to the principles of fair sport.”
“We always stand for international consolidation in sports and will continue to organize competitions of this format, as we see increased interest from athletes from other countries. The first stage of the games was successful, it brought together more than 1,000 athletes from different countries,” said Matytsin.