Russia will be asked for a ceasefire during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which will take place from 26 July to 11 August, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday “the request for a ceasefire during the Olympic Games. They (the Russians) have to do it. That’s what has always happened.”
“Yes, there will be a request,” Macron said in response to a question about the possibility in a 23-minute interview with Ukrainian TV channel TCH. An interpreter quoted the French president as saying that France would do so in the spirit of the Olympic movement. “This is a message of peace.”
The French president explained his decision in the following way: “As is traditional in countries hosting the Olympic Games, France will respect the decision of the United Nations in November 2023, when 120 member states of the organisation unanimously approved an Olympic truce.”
Macron said that France would also respect the decision of the Olympic Committee to allow Russian athletes to compete under a neutral flag. ‘The rule of the host country is to go along with the Olympic movement,’ he said. “Of course, we will closely monitor their performances so that nobody takes advantage of the athletes in this situation.”
The International Olympic Committee has suspended the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC). The IOC has reserved the right to make future decisions regarding the participation of Russian athletes in Paris 2024 at the next meeting of the IOC Executive Board on 19-21 March.
Those athletes who meet certain conditions – not being part of the military and not having supported the invasion of Ukraine – will take part in the qualifying tournaments for the Summer Games, but only in individual events and without their national symbols, under the name of “Individual Neutral Athletes”.
“We will never go down the path of boycotting (the Games). We will always support our athletes, but we stress that the conditions set by the IOC are illegitimate, unfair and unacceptable,” said Stanislav Pozdnyakov, the former Olympic fencer who heads the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), in comments carried by Russian state news agency RIA.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called on France to stop supplying arms to Ukraine, TASS news agency reported, in response to President Emmanuel Macron’s call for a ceasefire in Ukraine during the Olympics.
President Vladimir Putin was also asked about Macron’s proposal for a ceasefire during the Olympic Games: “I don’t know about this statement from the French president. We are ready to consider any questions, but we will always, in any situation, proceed from the interests of the Russian Federation.”
by Asia Hockey