“Ask them for this ceasefire during the Olympic Games,” urged Ukrainian journalist Nataliia Moseichuk on Saturday March 16 at the end of the interview that Emmanuel Macron gave to several Ukrainian media, represented by Ms. Moseichuk and his colleague Yulia Galushko. “It will be asked, yes,” replied the French president.
As is traditional ahead of all Olympic Games, France, as host country, presented a resolution on the Olympic truce to the United Nations for voting. This was adopted on November 21, 2023, with 118 votes and no votes against (only 2 abstentions) and “urges” all members of the General Assembly “to observe the Olympic Truce in the spirit of the Charter of the United Nations” for the duration of the Paris 2024 Games (July 26-August 11).
Vladimir Putin, re-elected President of Russia on Sunday evening, said he was “ready to examine all proposals” when raising the possibility of an Olympic truce in the war in Ukraine during his speech to the press. at his campaign headquarters. But the Russian president added that he did not plan to start negotiations “simply because the enemy is trying to gain time due to the shortage of ammunition”, according to the state agency Tass.
During Saturday’s interview, broadcast by several Ukrainian media (1 1, We are Ukraine, United News, Telemarathon), Emmanuel Macron also mentioned that France would follow “the choices that are made by the authorities of the International Olympic Committee ( CIO)”. Asked about the possibility that Russian athletes could participate in the Paris Olympic Games under a neutral banner, the French president recalled that “the choice that was made is that Russia, as a country, is not present and that the flag is not not present, but that athletes could indeed be present. »
Emmanuel Macron, who warned “that no deviations or unacceptable remarks made in this context” will be tolerated, said he considered this choice as that of “a message of peace, of international unity […] but which does not give in nothing to the fact that we want Ukraine to regain its full sovereignty, its territorial integrity, and for lasting peace to return to your country. »
“Whoever is ready to follow these conditions is welcome in Paris”
The IOC requires Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in the next Paris Olympic Games under a neutral banner – a system forged during the 1992 Barcelona Olympics for Serbs and Montenegrins hit by international sanctions. The athletes concerned will also only be able to compete as individuals, which effectively prohibits any demonstration of Russian sporting power during team events, and they must not have actively supported the Russian offensive in Ukraine – full stop. double verified by the international federations, then the IOC.
According to the fifth fundamental principle contained in the Olympic Charter, “sporting organizations within the Olympic Movement must apply the principle of political neutrality”. It is also recalled that the IOC must “protect its independence, maintain and promote its political neutrality”.
Asked about this, IOC President Thomas Bach said on Saturday: “We have put conditions. These conditions will not be changed: whoever is willing to follow these conditions is welcome in Paris. Anyone who doesn’t want to follow them is not welcome.” Mr. Bach was traveling to Chamonix, as part of the celebration of the centenary of the first Winter Olympic Games, accompanied in particular by the French Minister of Sports and the Olympic Games, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra. The next IOC Executive Board meeting will take place on March 19-20.
