Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree postponing the planned "Friendship Games", a major multi-sport event that the International Olympic Committee has condemned as a purely political project.
Russia announced last year that it plans to restart the competition, first organized in 1984 as an alternative to the Soviet-led Los Angeles Olympics, which the USSR boycotted in retaliation for the US boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games.
The IOC announced in March that this idea violates the Olympic Charter and called on countries not to participate, reports Reuters.
Putin's decree, published on the official website, left open the possibility that the games could be held at some point in the future until a "special decision of the president" is made.
Russia prides itself on its history of Olympic success, but has been banned from competing as a team at this year's Paris Games as punishment for its invasion of Ukraine. Only a small number of Russians were allowed to participate as "individual neutral athletes".
Bonus video:
