MOSCOW, February 6 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s Foreign Ministry called on all warring parties around the world to observe an “Olympic truce” on the eve of the opening of the Winter Olympics in Sochi.
The ministry urged those at war, particularly in Syria, to lay down their arms for the duration of the Winter Games, in accordance with a United Nations resolution of November 2013 co-authored by 121 states.
“First of all, our call is addressed to all sides in the bloody conflict in Syria, which has significantly destabilized the situation in the country and in the region as a whole,” the ministry said in a statement Thursday.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also called Thursday for the “Olympic truce,” echoing a tradition originally started in Ancient Greece.
Syria’s civil war, which has lasted almost three years, has taken the lives of at least 100,000 people, according to UN figures reported in July.
