Russia continued the Soviet Union’s take on the Olympics as a means to show power. In this year’s Olympics, Paris 2024, a record-low number of Russian athletes will be participating in the Games. Only 15 Russian sportsmen will be competing as Individual Neutral Athletes.
Additionally, France barred nearly 100 foreign journalists, physiotherapists, and technical staff, citing concerns over potential espionage threats.
For the first time in 40 years, the Olympic Games will not be broadcast on Russian television, according to reports from Sports.ru and other publications.
Federal TV channels Perviy and Rossiya-1 have opted not to broadcast the Olympics due to political reasons. Earlier, Komsomolskaya Pravda reported that these channels deemed it "inappropriate" to air the Games given that only a limited number of Russian athletes will compete under neutral status.
How has Russia been using the Olympics to its advantage in its aggression against neighboring nations? More on it below.
Olympics as a coverup for aggression
The strict restrictions on Russian athletes follow years of Moscow using the Olympics as a cover for preparing or executing invasions.
Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022, just 4 days after the end of the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Similarly, Russia's 2014 invasion of Ukraine started four days after the Winter Olympics in Sochi, which Russia hosted.
Additionally, during the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, Russia was engaged in a full-scale invasion of neighboring Georgia.
Olympic truce
One of the topics of manipulation of Russian propaganda regarding the Olympics in Paris several months before its beginning was the topic of the so-called "Olympic truce".
The tradition of the “Olympic Truce” was established in Ancient Greece between three kings – Iphitos of Elis, Cleosthenes of Pisa, and Lycurgus of Sparta and aimed to allow safe participation in the ancient Olympic Games for all athletes and spectators from these Greek city-states, which were otherwise almost constantly engaged in conflict with each other.
Russian propagandists have pointed to the UN General Assembly's November 2023 resolution supporting the Olympic truce for the 2024 Paris Games and the International Olympic Committee's 1992 proposal to revive the Olympic truce tradition.
Ironically, Russia has violated the Olympic truce principle under Vladimir Putin's leadership on at least three occasions: during the 2008 invasion of Georgia and twice during the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
In this context, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's February 2014 call to honor the Olympic truce before the Sochi Olympics and Paralympics, which lasted until mid-March, seems particularly cynical. This period coincided with the covert deployment of Russian troops to Crimea and the staging of a "referendum" for the illegal annexation of Crimea on March 16, 2014. Russia’s answer to the Olympics
Russia and its ally Belarus have been largely excluded from international competitions, including the Paris Olympics, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. That’s why Russia has been working on creating sporting events that would substitute the Olympics for the Russian viewers.
Russia’s answer to the Olympics
Russia and its ally Belarus have been largely excluded from international competitions, including the Paris Olympics, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. That’s why Russia has been working on creating sporting events that would substitute the Olympics for the Russian viewers.
World Friendship Games
The 2024 World Friendship Games is a multi-sport event, which was planned to be held in Moscow and Yekaterinburg, Russia from 15 to 29 September 2024. The organizers have eventually rescheduled the Games to a non-Olympic year in order to "maximize athlete and official availability," according to the website.
The International Olympic Committee has opposed the revival of the Games, labeling it a violation of the Olympic Charter.
BRICS Games
The 2024 BRICS Games was an international multi-sport competition running from 12 to 23 June 2024 in Kazan, Russia, organized by countries belonging to the economic association BRICS.
These games garnered little international interest and faced disappointing turnout, with some events featuring only one competitor and performances falling short of expectations.
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