UN urges Olympic truce during 2026 Winter Games after war between Russia and Ukraine
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Nearly four years after Russia violated the Olympic Truce by invading Ukraine just days after the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, the United Nations is urging all countries to adhere to the truce this time.
The appeal was presented at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, suggesting that stopping fighting during one of the world’s leading sporting events could be a “tool to promote peace, dialogue, tolerance and reconciliation” ahead of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Games.
The unanimous adoption of the resolution in the 193-nation global organization was met with applause from diplomats, the International Olympic Committee and sports representatives.
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A crew member jumps to repair the logo for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics before the launch ceremony in Beijing on September 17, 2021. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Italian Giovanni Malago, President of the Organizing Committee of the Winter Olympics, presented the resolution.
“At a time of increasing discord and conflict, sport and the Olympic Games can provide a beacon of hope and an alternative to rivalry and division,” he said.
The resolution brought to mind the ancient Greek tradition of “ekecheria,” or Olympic truce, to encourage a peaceful environment and ensure the safe passage of athletes and their participation in the Games, “thus mobilizing the world’s youth for the cause of peace.”
IOC President Kirsty Coventry told the General Assembly just before the resolution was adopted that in a world where “conflict and division continue to cause untold suffering,” the Olympics “can provide a rare space in which people come together not as enemies but as 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 stressed that athletes cannot do it alone.
Coventry urged all countries to “separate sport and politics” and ensure that athletes are not denied visas for politically motivated reasons. She said that athletes “should not be judged based on their origins, but rather based on their athletic merits.”
Coventry made its appeal not to refuse visas weeks after a global controversy when the Indonesian government refused to grant visas to the Israeli national gymnastics team to participate in the World Gymnastics Championships in Jakarta. The International Olympic Committee recommended that no international competitions be held in Indonesia as a result, and ended all discussions about the country hosting a future Olympics.
The 2026 Winter Olympics will be held in Cortina and Milan from February 4 to February 26.
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Russia has violated the Olympic Truce three times in 14 years, going to war with Georgia over the disputed region of South Ossetia during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and launching a military coup that annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula after the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics were closed before violating it again in 2022.
Russia has been banned from competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics due to the timing of the Ukrainian invasion. However, Russian athletes competed as neutral participants and were allowed to attend the closing ceremony.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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