ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Skip to main content

Macron says he has no doubt Russia will target Paris Olympics

France's President Emmanuel Macron, surrounded by officials, attends the inauguration ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic village in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. (Ludovic Marin, Pool via AP) France's President Emmanuel Macron, surrounded by officials, attends the inauguration ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic village in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. (Ludovic Marin, Pool via AP)
Share
PARIS -

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that he had no doubt Russia would malevolently target the Paris Olympics this summer, in comments that underline the fraught geopolitical backdrop to the games.

"I have no doubt whatsoever, including in terms of information," Macron said in response to a reporter's question about whether he thought that Russia would try to target the Olympics.

The Russian embassy in Paris did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Macron's remarks, delivered at an event in Paris for the inauguration of the new Olympics aquatic center, represent his most explicit acknowledgment to date of foreign threats to the security or smooth running of the games.

The globally anticipated event takes place amid a complex global context, with Russia's war in and Israel's conflict with Hamas in complicating efforts to safeguard the Olympics.

A Macron aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, declined to say whether the president was referring to specific intelligence signaling a future Russian interference attempt.

Instead, she said: "There is a hardening from Russia, which we have been seeing for several months."

Macron has recently adopted a tougher stance against Russia, vowing that Moscow must be defeated, and has not ruled out that European troops may one day go to Ukraine, although he has made clear that France has no intention of instigating hostilities against Russia.

His government has also adopted a tougher line against alleged Russian disinformation efforts across Europe.

Earlier this week, Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said France will propose EU-wide level sanctions on those behind spreading disinformation amid what Paris sees as growing efforts by Russia to destabilize the bloc.

Russia and the IOC

Relations between Russia and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have worsened in the run-up to the Paris Olympics, where Russian and Belarusian athletes will compete as neutrals, without their flags and anthems, and be excluded from the opening parade.

They were initially banned from competing internationally following Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Russia said last year it planned to relaunch a multi-sport 'Friendship Games' in 2024, 40 years after its first edition, a move the IOC has criticized as a "political action."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this week that the IOC's attitude to Russia's plans to host international sports events was "unacceptable" and the IOC was damaging the Olympic movement by refusing to dissociate itself from politics.

(Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten, writing by GV De Clercq and Gabriel Stargardter, editing by Inti Landauro, Richard Lough, Alexandra Hudson)

CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.

Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.

An Ontario man says it is 'unfair' to pay a $1,500 insurance surcharge because his four-year-old SUV is at a higher risk of being stolen.

For the last seven-and-half months, Toronto resident Heather McArthur has been living out what she describes as her 'worst nightmare.' On Feb. 7, her then three-year-old son Jacob along with his father Loc Phu 'Jay' Le departed for what was supposed to be a week-long visit to Vietnam to celebrate the Lunar New Year with family, McArthur says.

Local Spotlight

They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.

David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.

Edmontonians can count themselves lucky to ever see one tiger salamander, let alone the thousands one local woman says recently descended on her childhood home.

A daytrip to the backcountry turned into a frightening experience for a Vancouver couple this weekend.