French President Macron: ‘There can’t, obviously, be a Russian flag at the Paris Games’

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron says the Russian flag has no place at next year’s Paris Olympics because of the war crimes committed by Vladimir Putin’s regime in Ukraine. Russia has not been allowed to fly its flag at the Olympics since the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. Russians have been competing at the Summer and Winter Olympics as “neutral athletes” because of doping issues since then. Macron says Russia “has no place at a time when it has committed war crimes and deported children” in an interview with L’Equipe newspaper. The interview was published a day after a Russian missile tore through an outdoor market in eastern Ukraine and killed 17 people.