The Russian Federation requested a vote in the UN General Assembly on a draft resolution calling for an "Olympic Truce" to grant safe passage to athletes and other participants during the 2024 Games, according to a UN press release on Nov. 21.
The truce resolution, normally adopted by unanimous consensus each year, was proposed by France and supported by 118 countries. Russia and Syria abstained.
The Olympic Truce lasts from the seventh day prior to the start of the Games until the seventh day after the end of the Paralympic Games, which will be held in Paris in 2024. Member states observing the truce agree to ensure safe passage and participation for everyone involved in the events.
When the Russian delegation called for a vote, it condemned the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) decision not to invite Russia or Belarus to the Paris Games as politicized and discriminatory.
Russia also proposed an amendment to the truce resolution prohibiting "discrimination" in sport.
The proposal was not considered.
Ukraine's delegate Anastasiia Tokarska UN Khrystyna Hayovyshyn said Russia's move was yet another signal of its disinterest in international cooperation.
“We shouldn't be surprised that this resolution was put to a vote by the Russian Federation, a country that violated the Olympic Truce three times in the modern history of the games,” she said.
Tokarska said Russia committed these violations in 2008, when it invaded Georgia, and again in 2014, when it occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, and Crimea. Finally, in 2022, Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In her remarks to the General Assembly, Tokarska said Russia should be banned from all international sporting competitions until its troops withdraw completely from Ukrainian territory.
Editor's Note: A previous version of this article attributed the Ukrainian delegation's response to Deputy UN Ambassador Khrystyna Hayovyshyn. The remarks were made by diplomat Anastasiia Tokarska, not Hayovyshyn. The article has been updated to reflect the correction.
Mark Temnycky
