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Almost four years after Russia violated the Olympic ceasefire by invading Ukraine just days after the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, the United Nations is calling on all nations to respect the ceasefire this time.
The plea was made at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, saying a halt to the matches during one of the world’s premier sporting events could be “a tool to promote peace, dialogue, tolerance and reconciliation,” ahead of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Games.
The adoption of the resolution by consensus in the 193-nation world body was met with applause from diplomats, the International Olympic Committee and sports representatives.
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A crew member jumps to repair a logo for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics before a launch ceremony to unveil the motto of the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics, Friday, Sept. 17, 2021. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Italy’s Giovanni Malagò, President of the Organizing Committee for the Winter Olympics, presented the decision.
“At a time of growing division and conflict, sport and the Olympic Games can provide a beacon of hope, an alternative to rivalry and division,” he said.
The resolution recalled the ancient Greek tradition of ekecheiria, or Olympic truce, to promote a peaceful environment and ensure the safe passage and participation of athletes in the Games, “thereby mobilizing the world’s youth in the cause of peace.”
President of the International Olympic Committee, Kirsty Coventry, told the assembly just before the adoption of the resolution that in a world where “conflict and division continue to cause untold suffering” the Olympic Games can “offer a rare space where people come together not as adversaries but as fellow human beings.”
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She said the Olympic truce is “a call to put aside what divides us and focus instead on what unites us.”
But she emphasized that athletes cannot do this alone.
Coventry called on all countries to “keep sport and politics separate” and ensure that athletes are not denied visas for politically motivated reasons. She said athletes “must not be judged on where they come from, but rather on their sporting merit.”
Coventry’s call not to deny visas comes weeks after a global controversy when the Indonesian government denied visas to Israel’s national gymnastics team for the World Gymnastics Championships in Jakarta. The IOC recommended that no international competitions take place in Indonesia as a result, ending all discussion of the country hosting a future Olympics.
The 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina and Milan will run from February 4 to February 26.
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Russia has violated the Olympic ceasefire three times in 14 years, fought a war with Georgia over the disputed territory of South Ossetia during the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics and launched a military coup that annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula after the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics were shut down, before violating it again in 2022.
Russia was barred from participating in the 2024 Paris Olympics due to the timing of the Ukraine invasion. However, Russian athletes competed as neutrals and were allowed to participate in the closing ceremony.
