Belarusian carrier of Russian flag at Paralympics to be gifted apartment

Moscow, Oct 3 (IANS) The Belarusian who carried Russia's flag at the opening ceremony of the 2016 Rio Paralympics will receive an apartment as a gift, Russian foreign ministrys official spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Monday.

The flag was carried by representative of the Belarusian Ministry of Sports and Tourism Andrey Fomochkin at the opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro on September 7, reports Tass.

Zakharova said her acquaintance called her and told her about his friend who wanted to make such a present to Fomochkin as a sign of appreciation of what he did.

"I will not tell you everything. I will only say that the apartment is real, it is in a finished building -- I checked it all by myself, of course. You will learn later who this mysterious Count of Monte Cristo is," the spokeswoman said.

Fomochkin arrived in Moscow on Monday to receive the token of appreciation.

Fomochkin carried the Russian flag at the athletes' parade at the opening ceremony of the 2016 Rio Paralympics in sign of solidarity with Russian para athletes who were banned from participating in the Games.

Following this, Fomochkin was stripped of his Paralympics accreditation.