But during the last decade, the Games have been used by Russia deliberately as a tactical tool – at times as an attempted distraction for Russian aggression. In 2008, Russia invaded Georgia on the first day of the summer Olympics in Beijing. During the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia invaded Crimea.
Participation in international competitions drives athletes to honing their competitive prowess to perfection, to perform record-breaking feats of physical skill – thus inspiring people in their home countries. They say it’s this single-minded dedication that should be duly recognized.
For Russia, international dominance in sports is of sacred importance, just as it was for the Soviet Union. Athletic victory for them was evidence for the world of the superiority of the Soviet/Russian system. It was also domestic fodder for extolling the greatness of their civilization for Russians.
A most telling example of this is probably the Russian-produced film of the Canada/Soviet hockey series of 1972 in Moscow. Russia depicted the matches as one of the Cold War’s major confrontations with the West. The Soviets won the first game and it’s portrayed as a glorious victory over “scary and evil” Canadians. Uninformed viewers of the film would never know that Canada actually won the series.
As of this writing, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has decided to allow Russian and Belorussian athletes to compete as “independent athletes”, under a “neutral flag”. However, this is crass hypocrisy and doesn’t take into account the fact that Russian athletes still knowingly represent their state – even without the Russian flag and national anthem being played at a possible gold medal presentation – and are obliged by the Kremlin to carry out the tasks expected of them.
Urmas Sõõrumaa, president of Estonia’s Olympic Committee, has put it succinctly: “Athletes are the state’s ambassadors. The majority of Russian top athletes are Russian army officers, whose military comrades ae killing and raping innocent people. Are we really going to allow Russian officers to Paris?”
Journalists at ‘Slidstvo’ have compiled up-to-date information about the relationship between the Russian Ministry of Defence and Russian Olympic-level athletes. In short, they’re on salary and carry military ranks. To boot, they’re expected to spread Kremlin propaganda. In spite of this, the IOC is proposing to give them access to the world’s top sports arena.
Russian Olympians are part of the CSKA (Federal Autonomous Institution of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation Central Sports Club of the Army) and regularly participate in public events in military uniform. This is part of a system in which Russian sports has existed for decades.
Sport has always been a part of Russia’s military life. The Centre for Strategic Communications recalls the Russian attack against Georgia during the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Russian athletes won 32 medals. Of these the CSKA team won 14 and their team members from Dynamo (FSB-connected) won 14. Fully 88% of all Russian awards at those Olympics were won by athletes representing the same security forces that have invaded Ukraine. Both were founded in 1923, 100 years ago.
Documents show that the salary of Russian Olympians athletes depends on their military rank. It’s known that the Russian Ministry of Defence doesn’t skimp on athlete salaries. The CSKA charter states that “the departments must pay full remuneration to their personnel”. The 2021 annual reports show that nearly 3 billion rubles were allotted for CSKA athletes and staff. (As of this writing, with the devalued ruble, it’s about $32 US million, two years ago, much more.)
The CSKA charter also states that the purpose of the organization is to “popularize military service in the Russian Armed Forces”. Russian Olympians are obviously not driving tanks or bombing hospitals in Ukraine. But they are promoting the recruitment of Russian soldiers who fulfill the invader’s military goals.
Internet photos and videos clearly show that during its invasion of Ukraine, Russian Olympians held workshops as part of the “Contract Military Service is Your Choice” supporting Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine.
In addition to augmenting Kremlin propaganda, Russian athletes also are active in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory. After the annexation of Crimea, CSKA established a branch there and opened a training base. Some of those athletes in this CSKA camp are being groomed for their possible participation at the Paris Games next year. These same CSKA athletes are in fact morally complicit in the attack against and the ensuing war crimes committed in Ukraine.
We can argue, a bit naively, that the Olympics must be above politics, that regimes come and go, that international squabbles wither on the vine and that the Olympic spirit is transcendent. But a brutal invasion is not a squabble.
We might then ask the IOC: How do Russian Olympians qualify as “independent” competitors if they’re part and parcel of an aggressor force?
