Russian athletes will ultimately not be present at the Paralympic Games, which open on Friday March 4 in Beijing. Until Wednesday evening – and as has been the habit since the institutionalized doping cases – this participation was still to take place under a neutral banner. At war with Ukraine, the country is being pounded by Western sanctions. Among them, sports measures, which also affect Belarus. What, to use the words of Joe Biden specifically addressed to Vladimir Putin, make Russia a “pariah” in the world of sport. A strong and very concrete symbol, even quicker to put in place than the multiple economic punishments mentioned so far.
A few non-exhaustive examples: in addition to the Paralympic Winter Games, Russia is also excluded from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which is to be organized this fall, and its clubs from European football competitions; the World Athletics Championships; the Davis Cup in tennis; many other competitions to come in skating, ice hockey, rugby…
All the events (or almost) organized on its soil are relocated, postponed or canceled, like the final of the Champions League, scheduled for May 28, moved from Saint Petersburg to Paris, or the F1 Grand Prix in Sochi, which a priori will not take place. Finally, economic partnerships, such as the emblematic one linking Gazprom to the European Union of Football Associations (UEFA), are also often cancelled.
All of these decisions stem from recent advice from the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The latest, published February 28, was crystal clear: “In order to protect the integrity of global sports competitions and for the safety of all participants, the IOC Executive Board recommends that international sports federations and sports event organizers not invite nor allow the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials in international competitions.” While recommending to “international sports federations and [aux] organizers of sporting events around the world to do everything in their power to ensure that no Russian or Belarusian athlete or sports official is allowed to compete under the name of Russia or Belarus”.
“It’s a real break, still unthinkable a few days ago. All the sports federations are positioning themselves taking into account the directives of the IOC. Since 1945 and the end of the Second World War [NDLR : à l’époque pour l’Allemagne et le Japon]it is unprecedented, judge with L’Express the specialist in geopolitics of sport Jean-Baptiste Guégan, co-author of the book to be published The Republic of Football (Amphora). Previously, and during other particularly tense situations – conflicts or occupations of territories -, sport hid behind the apoliticism traditionally associated with this environment.” Or contented himself, with regard to Russia and its geopolitical affairs or doping, half-measures with questionable effects.The Russian athletes recovered their medals without difficulty, with, in the background, an air of Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky for the winners instead of the usual anthem.
A sports policy that is shattered
A few exceptions to Russia’s sporting isolation remain for a handful of individual sports. Especially in tennis, a discipline dominated among men by the Russian Daniil Medvedev, number 1 in the ranking of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). The Russians – like the Belarusians – indeed remain, for the time being, authorized to play the tournaments of the ATP and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA). The swimming, fencing, gymnastics and even judo federations have also opted for similar positions.
This mobilization nevertheless remains a failure for Vladimir Putin, who bet a lot during his presidency on the development of his soft-power through sports. “The idea was to revive the power of the Soviet Union in this area. His first decade as the leader of Russia prepared the ground. Then, during the second, between 2010 and 2020, Russia was the country which has organized the most major international events, including the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014, the Football World Cup in 2018″, underlines Jean-Baptiste Guégan.
“Thanks to all these events, the population has therefore itself attended many competitions and experienced mass tourism”, abounds Lukas Aubin, doctor in geopolitics, author of Sportokratura under Vladimir Putin: a geopolitics of Russian sport (Breal, 2021). With a slight taste of coming back. The expert recalls more broadly, to L’Express, “that between 2000 and 2020, the percentage of the population practicing a sport regularly increased from 20% to 40% in Russia”. Impossible, therefore, that these sanctions do not touch the heart of the Russian population. “His sports strategy will come back to him in the face, like a boomerang”, thinks Jean-Baptiste Guégan.
Especially if the athletes themselves carry a dissenting voice. In recent days, national football team striker Fedor Smolov (45 caps) was the first to express his opposition to the war. The tennis prodigy Medvedev, meanwhile, in a pirouette, valued peace in the world. “In total, we already have a dozen athletes who speak with one and the same voice, which suggests that this is only the submerged face of the dispute”, specifies Lukas Aubin. Most of those who speak out do so through Western channels, such as Instagram, making it impossible for the Kremlin to censor their words.
The turn of the oligarchs?
It remains to be seen where these sanctions will lead. On a sporting level, “we should gradually allow certain Russian athletes to be independent and to return to competitions, except for those aligned with Putin”, predicts Jean-Baptiste Guégan. But, like all the other sanctions decided, will they be effective in order to push back the Russian president militarily – the real objective? It seems unlikely. “With Vladimir Putin and his restricted organization chart, we imagined before this invasion very important sanctions, but which will not last over time, like what happened after the annexation of Crimea”, believes Lukas Aubin. A rather “cynical” point of view, which only the future will be able to prove (or not).
In a more unprecedented way, on the other hand, the asset freezes and the various punishments that hit the oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin could have effects that the Kremlin had not foreseen. Some of these personalities have invested billions in sports training, with the mission of promoting Russia internationally. The most famous of them being Roman Abramovich, owner of English football club Chelsea (current European champion). The man was finally forced to announce the sale of his club on Wednesday evening, in a press release. The profits from this transaction will be donated to a charitable foundation for victims of the war in Ukraine. A symbol of the end of the end of an era between these influential figures and the head of the Kremlin?
“It was an exchange of a pact between them, an exchange of good deeds: Russia asked these oligarchs to invest in an area and, of course, to stay away from life politics of the country. In return, they were free to do business and assured of not being worried by the courts. But today, this is no longer the case”, observes Lukas Aubin.
So the masks fall. And like Abramovich – even if personal motivations may come into play, Abramovich is of Ukrainian descent through his mother and maintains strong ties with the Jewish community of Ukraine, specifies Lukas Aubin – other oligarchs could also take the distance. Or, failing that, be forced by the host countries to take them. In France, Dmitri Rybolovlev, owner of AS Monaco, remains silent. Across the Channel, Alicher Ousmanov has already been let go by the Everton club in England. Dominoes fall fast, in sports. Faster, perhaps, than Vladimir Putin had imagined.