A rain of sanctions falls on Russia, a week after the start of the military invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army. Sanctions that affect the economic, political and also sporting fields. Thursday, the International Paralympic Committee decided to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes from the Games which start Friday in Beijing. Fifa has excluded the Russian selection from the next Football World Cup, and the Formula 1 promoter has announced that it will definitively terminate its contract with that of the Russian Grand Prix.
Doctor in geopolitics, specialist in Russia and sport and author of The Sportokratura under Vladimir Putin. A geopolitics of Russian sport (to Bréal editions), Lukas Aubin affirmed Thursday in the emission South Europe that these sanctions hurt the “soft power” of the country. “At first, it is the least of the Russian president’s worries since these sanctions come after the economic, diplomatic, even military sanctions. But sport remains a privileged instrument of power” by Putin’s Russia, analyzes -t- it on Europe 1.
The loss of an “instrument of power”
Lukas Aubin insists on the importance of sport in the eyes of Vladimir Poutine. “Since coming to power in 2000, he’s been a man who regularly puts himself on the stage doing judo, ice hockey, skating, etc. He loves sport from a personal point of view, and he understood the political virtues of sport as an international weapon. To deprive him of it is to deprive him of an instrument of his power”, argues the doctor in geopolitics.
The Russia specialist evokes the “Sportokratura”, a very precise political, economic and sporting organization which includes many Russian actors, including athletes. “They seek to organize and make Russian sport efficient in order to exist on the international scene, but also to better have control over the Russian population through sport”, explains Lukas Aubin.
A long-term weakening
Can these sanctions in the sports field make the master of the Kremlin back down? “At first, no”, assures Lukas Aubin on Europe 1, but the doctor in geopolitics to evoke the repercussions among the first concerned, the top athletes. “Many Russian athletes have started to speak out against the war. Potentially, these sanctions could affect them directly, and therefore indirectly have an impact on the Russian population,” he explains in Europe Midi.
An element that the Russian power should take into account, according to Lukas Aubin. “There, it could be interesting on a national scale because we could see a protest emerge within Russian civil society against its president, and see him weakened.”