UN adopts traditional, oft-ignored Olympics 'truce'

UN member states adopted a resolution Wednesday urging international conflicts be paused during the Olympics -- an ideal embraced in principle every two years and regularly ignored.

Modeled on a millennia-old Greek tradition, the Olympic Truce has been introduced at the UN biennially since 1993 by the host country of the next edition of the Olympic Games.

In theory, for the upcoming Winter Games in Italy, it would be observed seven days before the February 6 start of the Olympics until seven days after the March 15 conclusion of the Paralympics.

Russia and Ukraine traded barbs on the floor of the General Assembly before adoption of the non-binding resolution, "Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal," which passed by unanimous consent.

Maksim Kuzevich, identified as an expert by Russia's UN mission, praised the International Paralympic Committee's surprise lifting in September of the partial suspension imposed on Russia and Belarus following Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

He called it "a very positive sign" for athletes "unjustly deprived due to the political situation."

Ukraine's envoy, Dmytro Tymoshenko, said Russia and Belarus must remain barred from world sport "until Russia ends its barbaric war of aggression against Ukraine."

He welcomed the International Olympic Committee's decision to allow qualifying Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in individual events under a neutral flag, subject to strict conditions, as it did in Paris in 2024.

The International Paralympic Committee said in October it had heard from the relevant international federations that "in practice, no athletes from the two nations are likely to qualify for March's Games."

Russia occupied Georgian territory during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, annexed Crimea after the 2014 Sochi Olympics, and invaded Ukraine after the 2022 Beijing Games, even though Moscow had approved the Olympic Truce resolutions for each of those Games.