The World Friendship Games are seen as a response to Russia not being allowed to participate in the Olympic Games due to the war against Ukraine. Initially, the competition was to be held in Yekaterinburg in September this year.
Then it was postponed to sometime during the summer of 2025. But now the competition has been put on ice for an indefinite period, announces the Kremlin.
The International Olympic Committee has described the World Friendship Games as a cynical attempt to politicize sports and has simultaneously urged countries not to participate.
Ukraine has described the competition as a championship for "propaganda purposes".
Russia, in turn, has accused the IOC of what they describe as "Nazi actions" in that the committee has banned most of Russia's and Belarus' athletes from competing in the Olympic Games.
The World Friendship Games were last held in 1984 in the Soviet Union when socialist countries boycotted the Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
