Conflict between Russia and the International Olympic Committee engulfed the United Nations on Tuesday before 118 members voted to adopt the traditional truce during the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
Two years ago, Russia voted in favor of the Olympic truce before breaking it by beginning the invasion of Ukraine four days after the end of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
Since then, relations between Russian leaders and IOC President Thomas Bach have not been good even though the IOC has softened its position regarding the exclusion of Russian athletes by encouraging sports federations to allow certain athletes to participate. to competitions under a neutral banner.
These conditions remain “completely unacceptable,” according to Russian diplomat Maria Zabolotskaya, who spoke before Bach at the UN on Tuesday.
“The height of hypocrisy and cynicism, at a level never seen in recent history, is the illegal ban on the participation of Russian athletes in international sporting events,” said Zabolotskaya, a permanent representative of the Russia at the UN.
Only Russia and Syria abstained from voting and 118 of the 193 UN members – including Israel, Ukraine and the United States – voted in favor of the motion proposed by France, the host country of the event. Two years ago, 173 members approved the motion.
The Olympic Truce is the modern version of the Greek tradition in which athletes were given right of passage through warring city-states to the games. It will be valid from July 19 to September 15, i.e. from seven days before the opening of the Olympic Games to seven days after the end of the Paralympic Games.
Tuesday’s debate came 21 months after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and six weeks after the start of the conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.
The Olympics “are a symbol of tolerance, peace and cooperation among people of diverse cultures and nations,” said UN General Assembly Vice President Mohan Pieris.
Bach recalled comments made two months ago by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who said the world was “becoming disrupted.”
“In this fragile world, the motion regarding the Olympic Truce is more relevant than ever,” Bach said. Yes, we can come together, even in times of war and crisis. »
Minutes earlier, Bach had been targeted by Zabolotskaya, who maintains that the IOC targets Russian athletes, but not those from other countries at war.
“The double standards and segregation based on nationality imposed by the IOC leadership are violations of human rights,” she said.
Bach has repeated over the past year that athletes from Russia and its ally Belarus should not be discriminated against based on their passport.
Russia is “in favor of honest and fair competitions,” said Zabolotskaya, who invited the world to the Friendship Games that Russia plans to hold next year alongside the Olympics.
Bach responded by saying that “this would mean that sport would become an element of political tension and division in our world.”
His 13-minute speech ended when he asked to “give peace a chance,” invoking lyrics from John Lennon’s song “Imagine.”
For his part, Ukraine’s representative to the UN called for all Russian athletes to be banned from the Paris Games, recalling that Russia had also violated the Olympic truce in 2008 and 2014.
The representative of Belarus explained that he had voted in favor of the truce as a symbol of “hope for common sense to take over” in Olympic circles.
