IOC’s Bach sees ‘new world order’ ahead of LA Olympics and says Trump will 'fully support' Games

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Thomas Bach says he feels a rare calm in his final weeks as IOC president even as a “new world order" gains speed ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Bach led the International Olympic Committee through two locked-down Games in a global pandemic and several affected by Russian doping and military aggression, among other crises.

His successor will be elected March 20 and inherit an IOC financially secure with future Olympic hosts that today look stable and reliable.

Still, the biggest event for the next IOC president, the L.A. Games, could yet challenge Bach’s faith in the Olympics' power to unite the world in peaceful competition and mutual acceptance.

“We have a new world order in the making, and this making … will not happen without rumbling,” Bach said this week, without criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump.

Signature Bach policies have been gender parity and inclusive acceptance of all 206 national teams, plus refugee athletes. Political neutrality is an ideal Bach clings to even as Trump has warned of denying visas to athletes based on the government's gender interpretations.

“I am also convinced that President Trump and his administration will fully support the Olympic Games,” Bach told The Associated Press in a rare interview at IOC headquarters.

"He likes sport, so there I don’t see a risk.”

The American people, Bach added, "appreciate and love that the Games are about sport but they are about more than sport. They will want to welcome the athletes from all over the world.”

The IOC has defended female boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting — the Paris Olympic gold medalists. Both had been disqualified from the 2023 world championships run by the Russian-backed International Boxing Association, which said they failed eligibility tests.

“These two women boxers have been born as women, they have been raised as women, they have competed as women and nobody ever claimed even that they are transgender,” Bach said in AP's interview.

“What happened there was a Russian-led misinformation campaign which then distorted the truth, the facts, and now we have this unfortunate situation that these two athletes are considered to be transgender. But. They. Are. Not.”

Before the Paris Olympics, Bach warned of “deeply disturbing” trends, including “narrow self-interests trumping the rule of law.”

“What I see is very heated discussion in the United States,” Bach told the AP. “But this is for the citizens of the United States to have. Our values are very clear and on those values the Olympic Games are based.”

Bach's presidency since 2013 saw two Games impacted by COVID-19; one shadowed by Korean political tensions; several affected by Russian doping and military aggression; and one almost implode with a chaotic local organizing team in Rio de Janeiro that pulled the IOC into vote-buying allegations.

"I’m experiencing the first period during my presidency where I do not have an existential problem of the Olympic Games or the Olympic Movement on my desk,” Bach said.

The 71-year-old German lawyer and 1976 Olympic gold medalist in fencing leaves office in June.

“I’m fit and very happy in great health."

A key decision early in Bach’s presidency was extending NBC’s broadcast rights in the U.S. through 2032. Renewing or finding a new partner is a big decision for the next president. Bach suggested a free-to-air network is important.

“You can say of streaming, ‘They are paying such a lot of money, let’s go for streaming.’ But what does it mean for our values?” Bach said. “The Olympic Games has to be accessible to everybody and not only the ones that can afford it.”

The IOC also must refresh its slate of top-tier sponsors after three from Japan left last year. Would the IOC take a view on signing an Elon Musk company such as Starlink?

“From what I see he is busy with other things than to think about Olympic sponsorship,” Bach said. “I did not study this kind of question.”

Booing the U.S. anthem at sports events is becoming routine in Canada, and this week outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it will not stop.

A U.S. vs. Canada hockey game is likely next February at the 2026 Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Games, perhaps for the gold medal.

“This (booing) would not be great television and this would be against the Olympic values,” Bach said, predicting “all the teams, all the athletes, will enjoy the respect and support of the audience.”

Russia was banned from all team sports in Paris and its path is unclear back into ice hockey, Vladimir Putin’s favorite winter sport.

The wider issue of Russian participation at Milan-Cortina is for Bach’s successor, though his administration has already urged winter sports bodies with blanket bans on Russians to review them.

“The mission of the Olympic Movement is to unify,” he said. “This is something the winter sports federations should study very carefully.”

Bach and predecessor Jacques Rogge were Olympic athletes who rose to represent the IOC and meet with various heads of state.

“That is one of the privileges as IOC president is that you get everybody on the phone,” Bach said. “I haven’t experienced any situation where somebody would have said, ‘I am not interested to talk.’”

The late Henry Kissinger “gave very valuable advice” in real-world diplomacy.

Bach’s potential as a future Olympic leader was clear from 1981 when he and Sebastian Coe, a candidate to succeed him, helped to represent athletes at a key IOC meeting in Baden-Baden, West Germany. He later worked for Horst Dassler and Adidas when they were major power brokers in world sports and reportedly were monitored for the Stasi, East Germany’s secret police.

Asked if there was a Stasi file on him, Bach said: “Not that I knew. I cannot imagine."

Bach had warm relations with Russian President Putin during the 2014 Sochi Winter Games. Bach and the Olympics have been targets of Russian misinformation, cyber attacks and deep fake videos during the past decade of sanctioning the state-backed doping scandal and fallout from the invasion of Ukraine.

Bach’s legacy includes changing how hosts are picked. No more blockbuster contests are vulnerable to vote-buying.

"The atmosphere was just not clean, not sober. It put the whole credibility of the IOC in doubt.”

There were no allegations of wrongdoing in how the French Alps, Brisbane and Salt Lake City were selected as hosts of the Olympics from 2030-2034.

Bach’s last day after a three-month presidential transition is June 23, officially Olympic Day.

After that?

“The first four weeks I guess I will sleep,” he said. “Then I will do a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela all alone and hope I get some inspiration then for my future.”

AP Olympics at https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, toasts a glass of champagne with the International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach during the official reception of IOC for Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics organizing committee on Monday, Feb. 24, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti Kremlin, Mikhail Klimentyev, Presidential Press Service, File)

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach talks to the Associated Press during an interview at the Olympic House, in Lausanne, Switzerland, Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (Laurent Gillieron/Keystone via AP)

FILE - From left, United Nations' Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach and French President Emmanuel Macron speak, as they arrive, in Paris, France, for the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Ludovic Marin/Pool Photo via AP, File)

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach poses for the photographer prior to an interview with the Associated Press at the Olympic House, in Lausanne, Switzerland, Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (Laurent Gillieron/Keystone via AP)

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach talks to the Associated Press during an interview at the Olympic House, in Lausanne, Switzerland, Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (Laurent Gillieron/Keystone via AP)

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday he is sending a team headed by his defense minister to Istanbul for the first direct peace talks with a Russian delegation since the early weeks of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

Zelenskyy made the move after Russian President Vladimir Putin stayed away from a face-to-face meeting with him in Turkey that the Ukrainian leader had proposed in a flurry of diplomatic maneuvers last weekend.

Zelenskyy told a news conference in the Turkish capital Ankara the Russian delegation doesn’t include “anyone who actually makes decisions,” accusing Moscow of not taking efforts to end the war seriously.

But he said that to demonstrate to U.S. President Donald Trump that Ukraine is seeking an end to the conflict he had decided to send officials from Ankara to Istanbul — more than 400 kilometers (almost 300 miles) away — for their first direct talks since March 2022, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor the previous month.

He said the Ukrainian side would be headed by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and its aim is “to attempt at least the first steps toward de-escalation, the first steps toward ending the war — namely, a ceasefire.”

Putin’s absence punctured hopes of a breakthrough in peace efforts that were given a push in recent months by the Trump administration and Western European leaders amid the intense maneuvering. It also raised the prospect of intensified international sanctions on Russia that have been threatened by the West.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier welcomed Zelenskyy with an honor guard at the presidential palace in Ankara before the two held talks.

“Now, after three years of immense suffering, there is finally a window of opportunity,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said at a NATO meeting taking place separately in Turkey. “The talks ... hopefully may open a new chapter.”

The war has killed tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides and more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, according to the U.N., and continues along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line. Russian forces are preparing a fresh military offensive, Ukrainian government and Western military analysts say.

At least five civilians were killed and 29 injured in the past day, according to authorities in five eastern regions of Ukraine where Russia’s army is trying to advance.

The diplomatic maneuvering began over the weekend when European leaders met Zelenskyy in Kyiv and urged the Kremlin to agree to a full, unconditional 30-day ceasefire as a first step toward peace. Putin later responded by proposing direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul. Then came Zelenskyy's challenge to Putin for face-to-face talks.

After days of silence, the Kremlin finally responded Thursday, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying Putin has no plans to travel to Istanbul in the next few days.

Trump said he was not surprised that Putin was a no-show. Trump had pressed for Putin and Zelenskyy to meet but brushed off Putin’s apparent decision not to attend.

“I didn’t think it was possible for Putin to go if I’m not there,” Trump told reporters at a meeting with business executives in Doha, Qatar, on the third day of his visit to the Middle East.

Trump said a meeting between him and Putin was crucial to break the deadlock.

“I don’t believe anything’s going to happen whether you like it or not, until (Putin) and I get together,” he said on Air Force One while traveling from Doha to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. “But we’re going to have to get it solved because too many people are dying.”

Peskov said Putin has no plans to meet with Trump in the coming days.

Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Putin, is leading the Russian team that will also include three other senior officials, the Kremlin said. Putin also appointed four lower-level officials as “experts” for the talks in Istanbul.

Also absent from the talks were Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin’s foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov, both of whom represented Russia at the talks with the U.S. in Saudi Arabia in March.

The top-level Ukrainian delegation included Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, and the head of the Ukrainian presidential office Andriy Yermak, a Ukrainian official said. Zelenskyy will sit at the negotiating table only with Putin, said presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak.

Details about whether, when and where the Ukrainian delegation might meet their Russian counterparts were unclear. Russia said the talks have been postponed until the afternoon “at the initiative of the Turkish side”

Tass said the talks were to take place in a presidential office on the Bosporus, in Istanbul.

Putin met Wednesday evening with senior government officials and members of the delegation in preparation for the talks, Peskov said. Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, General Staff chief Valery Gerasimov, and National Security Council secretary Sergei Shoigu also attended.

The Kremlin billed Thursday’s talks as a “restart” of peace negotiations that were held in Istanbul in 2022 but quickly fell apart. Moscow accused Ukraine and the West of wanting to continue fighting, while Kyiv said Russia’s demands amounted to an ultimatum rather than something both sides could agree on.

Russia's delegation then was also headed by Medinsky.

Putin's proposal came after more than three months of diplomacy kickstarted by Trump, who promised during his campaign to end the devastating war swiftly — though it's been hard to pull off. The Trump administration in recent weeks indicated that it might walk away from the peace effort if there was no tangible progress soon.

Sybiha, the Ukrainian foreign minister, met with U.S. State Secretary Marco Rubio and Sen. Lindsey Graham on Wednesday night in the Turkish city of Antalya, which is hosting NATO foreign ministers to discuss new defense investment goals as the U.S. shifts its focus to security challenges away from Europe.

Sybiha reaffirmed Ukraine’s support for Trump’s mediation efforts and thanked the U.S. for its continued involvement, urging Moscow to “reciprocate Ukraine’s constructive steps” toward peace. "So far, it has not,” Sybiha said.

On Thursday morning, Sybiha also met with other European foreign ministers, including his French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot, who in a post on X reiterated the call for a ceasefire and the threat of “massive sanctions” if Russia doesn't comply.

“We’re in a very difficult spot right now, and we hope that we can find the steps forward that provide for the end of this war in a negotiated way and the prevention of any war in the future," Rubio said Thursday.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer accused Putin of “standing in the way of peace.”

“There was only one country that started this conflict -- that was Russia. That was Putin. There’s only one country now standing in the way of peace -- that is Russia, that is Putin,” he said in a visit to Tirana, Albania.

Barrot echoed that sentiment: “In front of Ukrainians there is an empty chair, one that should have been occupied by Vladimir Putin,” he said. “Vladimir Putin is dragging his feet and in all evidence does not want to enter into these peace discussions.”

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Associated Press writers Lorne Cook in Brussels; Illia Novikov and Samya Kullab in Kyiv, Ukraine; Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia; Aamer Madhani in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and Matthew Lee in Antalya, Turkey, contributed.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

In this handout photo released by Turkish Presidency, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, shakes hands with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy during their meeting at the Presidential palace in Ankara, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (Turkish Presidency via AP)

Ayse Sahil, whose family emigrated from Bolshevik in Russia, holds a board near Dolmabahce palace where talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations are expected, in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Dilara Acikgoz)

Turkish security members stand guard at Dolmabahce palace where talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations are expected, in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Dilara Acikgoz)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy walks down the stairs from his plane upon his arrival at Esenboga airport in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gestures to journalists as he leaves upon his arrival at Esenboga airport in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy talks to journalists as he arrives at Esenboga airport in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Ukrainian official plane, background, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on board lands at Esenboga airport in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting on forthcoming Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul, in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting on forthcoming Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul, in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)