Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected calls from French leader Emmanuel Macron for a truce with Russia during the Paris Olympics and criticised the West for seeking a swift end to the war.
The ancient tradition stretching back to Ancient Greece of a truce during the games will likely not be observed during this year’s Olympics in Paris, which will be held from July 26th to August 11th in the French capital.
While French President Emmanuel Macron proposed last month using the occasion for a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia, it appears that neither Kyiv nor Moscow are interested in heeding the call for peace.
Responding to Macron’s suggestion in an interview with Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Friday, President Zelensky argued that an Olympics truce would only be used by Russia to its benefit by moving troops and equipment without fear of being attacked by Ukraine.
“If it’s a truce, an Olympic truce for the duration of the Olympics, a land truce, they will have an advantage,” he said, saying that there is “a risk that they will bring heavy equipment to our territory and no one will be able to stop them”.
“We are against any truce that plays into the hands of the enemy,” Zelensky declared.
The Ukrainian president said that he previously expressed his concerns about the proposal directly to Macron, saying that he told the French president: “Let’s be honest… Emmanuel, I don’t believe it… First of all, we don’t trust Putin”.
Russian strongman Vladimir Putin also threw cold water on the notion of an Olympic truce during the Paris Games, highlighting the restrictions placed on Russian athletes over the invasion of Ukraine by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Russian athletes and those from Belarus will only be allowed to compete as individual neutral athletes (AINs). Russian and Belarussian sports teams will also be barred from competing in Olympic team competitions.
While Putin said that he believed the “Olympic principles, including the ‘Olympic truce’ are very right,” he suggested that this would not be possible given the sanctions placed on Russia, which he claimed were a violation of the Olympic charter.
He noted that the IOC is “not allowing our athletes to perform at the games with our banner, flag and our national music, our anthem.”
“They are committing violations against us and demand fulfilment from us. Dear friends: we won’t get far that way. No one has ever come to an agreement that way,” he said.
Russia and Belarus are planning on holding their own sports competition in September.