Russian attack Sport no longer matters to Putin, says historian: “All reputation benefits were pulled down the toilet bowl”

Sports use as a means of propaganda will inevitably decline due to restrictions, but sport, on the other hand, no longer seems to be relevant to the President; To Vladimir Putin.

This is the opinion of a historian familiar with sports in Russia and the Soviet Union Markku Jokisipilä. He justifies the decline in the use of propaganda on the grounds that international opportunities are simply being radically reduced.

The significance of sport for Putin, in turn, is shown by how quickly he was prepared to destroy the benefits of sport by waging an offensive war against Ukraine.

“Sport has been an important issue for Putin and he has made an effort to get value races to Russia, for example. It has been invested heavily in the fact that the Russian teams have hard resources, ”says Jokisipilä.

“Now, almost overnight, all the reputation gains that sport has made in 20 years were pulled down the toilet bowl. Putin seems to have come to the conclusion that soft power is no longer achieving its goals and that sport has become insignificant. ”

List Action against Russia has grown long.

On Monday, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended to its member organizations that all Russian and Belarusian athletes be excluded from all international competitions for the time being.

Read more: IOC calls for exclusion of Russia and Belarus – Vladimir Putin loses highest recognition of Olympic movement

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There is also no desire to allow competitions to be held in these countries.

Similarly, the International Football Association (Fifa) and the European Football Association (Uefa) strengthened their positions on Monday.

Russia was shut down for the time being in the national team, so it will not be able to participate in the World Cup qualifiers in March. As a result, the races themselves will be missed.

The International Volleyball Association has once said that the World Cup will be held in Russia as planned, but as the week progressed, that position also changed.

The World Hockey Tournament in Finland will also be played in the spring without Russia and Belarus.

The list could go on almost indefinitely. The exception is the Winter Paralympics, in which Russian and Belarusian athletes are allowed to participate under neutral symbols. The International Automobile Federation (FIA) also allows Russians to participate in international racing activities.

The front is united and, if necessary, sponsors and national federations have come to the forefront to demand sanctions.

For example, before the closure of Russia, the Coop chain announced that their logo at the Norwegian World Cup was blue-yellow, so the Russians would have worn the colors of Ukraine when competing.

Riverside estimates that the sanctions currently in place are historically tight. The closest benchmark he sees is the exclusion of South Africa and Rhodesia from sport because of apartheid policies.

Deputy Prime Minister for Sports of Russia Dmitry Chernishenko has commented on sanctions, saying, for example, that in Russia, sport and politics are never confused, but that they are involved in politics because the importance of sport to Russians is known.

Jokisipilä says he has turned his head on sports and politics. The idea of ​​avoiding a mix of sport and politics, repeated by Chernichenko, is no longer valid.

Read more: Russian Hockey Federation and René Fasel do not accept the shelf: “Discriminatory and against the spirit of sport”

Read more: Sponsor made the choice: If the Russians want to race at Holmenkollen, they will wear the colors of Ukraine

Instead, it is the duty of sports and umbrella organizations to take a stand on grievances. Now, for example, the International Olympic Committee and the International Football Association have turned to sanctions.

“The IOC and Fifa have long been strongholds of darkness, where it has not been noticed at all what the clock has struck when it comes to social weight.”

Jokisipilä thought that the time after the Beijing Winter Games was a good time for change. Already during the Games, there was more talk of awarding the Games to countries like China than during the 2008 Beijing Summer Games.

“From the IOC’s point of view, it was perhaps easier to react when the Games were held and there was no threat of an important event.”

National team activities in addition, the consequences of the invasion of Ukraine will also be reflected in the Russian series. According to Jokisipilä, it is clear that KHL will no longer exist in the form in which it has become known.

He considers it likely that foreign players will draw their own conclusions about the situation and leave the country themselves. After that, the Russian league will be left to the national players.

“The break-up of the KHL is shrinking in Russia, but more so for the union president Vladislav Tretyak like for whom hockey is a matter of the heart. KHL is Putin’s favorite child, but for him it is just a tool for power struggles, ”says Jokisipilä.

Playing Russian players in other leagues has aroused emotion in, for example, the Czech goalkeeper legend Dominik Hashekissawhich called on NHL clubs to suspend Russian contracts.

Jokisipila is a free right to work, in which the country is not represented but followed.

Read more: Superstar Alexander Ovethkin finally broke the silence over Russia’s offensive war: “No more war”

Yet an individual athlete can suffer a reputation as a detriment to his companion by supporting Putin. For example Alexander Ovethkin was withdrawn from advertisements by racket maker CCM.

Ovethki, for example, has said he still holds Putin as president, and in Instagram’s profile picture, a puck star is posing with Putin.

“It’s hard for him to say anything critical about what’s going on. Many Russian NHL hockey players have met Putin in person and visited the Kremlin. Stigmatized faces like Ovethkin are cleaned up from advertising campaigns. It’s bad marketing to keep them on display. ”

ThenceAccording to Jokisipilä, it is too early to draw conclusions about how Russia itself will react to the play of its own citizens in foreign leagues.

He says at this point he considers possible the toughest discipline as well as between the revolution and the new rulers.

Jokisipilä believes that there may even be a chance for Russian sports to recover if the state leadership no longer sees it as meaningful in the sense of propaganda. It may open the door to Russian sports making a difference in politics.

“In that case, success may not be the norm. If the value in use decreases from the point of view of the state, the resources provided will also decrease. ”

According to Jokisipilä, the people will play a key role in how the situation in Russia develops in the future. The views of athletes also play a role in shaping public opinion.

“All public appearances that increase dissatisfaction and criticism bring you closer to the moment Putin is replaced. That’s how athletes ’statements can make a difference. They can get some people to see the ruler in a more critical light. ”

Read more: Putin has been flattered in the sport, but now it’s finally over