Laurent Fabius told French radio "they [Ministers] won't be there".

But he backed his athletes competing at the Games, having "worked in very difficult conditions to be there".

The comments comes less than two months after Jean-Claude Killy, French chairman of the International Olympic Committee's Coordination Commission for Sochi 2014, advised French President François Hollande to attend one of the Paralympic ceremonies.

"There is no sophisticated reasoning behind that, just a message of openness," Killy told Le Monde.

But Russia's actions in Crimea, were troops are now stationed, has shaken the West's relationship with Vladimir Putin's Russia.

The United States responded to the crisis in Ukraine by announcing it would not send a delegation to the Games.

Meanwhile, UEFA President Michel Platini has said he cannot understand why anyone would call for Russia to be banned from attending the football World Cup in Brazil this summer.

"I don't know why 11 players would not be allowed to play at the World Cup," he told CNN.