He will be joined in Minsk by Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, Georgia's President Salome Zourabichvili, Moldova's President Igor Dodon, Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic and Milorad Dodik, the chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

A spokesman added to BelTA that Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the Chechen Republic, was also expected.

Weather forecasts predict a return on Friday of the thunderstorms which took place here last Sunday (June 16) amid what has been unusually warm weather for this time of year.

How this might impact on the Ceremony at the Dinamo Stadium is unclear and insidethegames has asked the Minsk 2019 Organising Committee (MEGOC) for comment.

Other guests at the Ceremony will include Roberto Antonione, secretary general of the Central European Initiative, Nada Al-Nashif, the assistant director general at UNESCO, and Tigran Sargsyan, the chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission.

State secretary of the Belarus-Russia union state Grigory Rapota and Maira Mora, director general of the Secretariat of the Council of the Baltic Sea States, will also be in attendance.

"We expect to welcome official delegations from the UK and Hungary led by Minister of State for Trade Policy George Hollingbery and Minister of Prime Minister's Office of Hungary Gergely Gulyas," the spokesman added.

The Games are being attended by athletes from more than 50 countries, and will be covered by more than 1,000 media representatives.

There will be representation at Presidential or secretary general level for more than 40 National Olympic Committees.

At today's briefing at the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, diplomats and representatives of international organisations were updated on the rules of attending the Games and provided with information on security measures.