Russian President Vladimir Putin —Agence France-Presse
MOSCOW, Russia — Russian President Vladimir Putin has postponed until further notice the World Friendship Games, seen as Moscow’s alternative to the Olympic Games and originally meant to take place this year, according to a Kremlin decree published on Monday.
The competition—widely seen as Russia’s response to being banned from the Paris Olympics due its Ukraine offensive—were meant to take place in Yekaterinburg this September but in the summer postponed until an unspecified date in 2025.
Article continues after this advertisementThe decree on Monday said that the World Friendship Games were postponed “until a special decision” by the Russian president.
FEATURED STORIES GLOBALNATION South Korean president declares emergency martial law GLOBALNATION Harry Roque, wife ‘appear to be staying in UAE legally’ – DFA GLOBALNATION South Korea lifts martial law decree after lawmakers vote against itThe International Olympic Committee (IOC) had called the Friendship games a “cynical attempt to politicize sport” and called on countries not to participate.
For propagandaUkraine had said Moscow wanted to use the event for “propaganda” purposes.
Article continues after this advertisementRussia had accused the IOC of “neo-Nazism” for banning its athletes and those of its ally Belarus from competing under their national flags in Paris.
Russia had last year said it would bring back the Friendship Games held in the 1980s in the Soviet Union, when some socialist countries had boycotted the Los Angeles Olympics. —Agence France-Presse
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