Russian athletes are suspended from competitions due to doping, white its sports officials and deputies blame it on "Russophobia".
In one of his interviews, Russian weightlifter and "strongman" Mikhail Koklyaev stated that "the task of the West is to kill the faith, the tsar, and the homeland. The faith and the tsar were killed, and now they are trying to deal with the homeland. It is all because the West knows how to play long-shot. They count up ten moves ahead. Such maxims are heard regularly by Russian athletes, coaches, functionaries, and officials in unison with Russian agitational propaganda (agitprop). Since Russian propaganda uses all spheres of life for its own purposes, sports are no exception. On the other hand, when propaganda is beneficial, Russian athletes broadcast the message that "sport is outside of politics."
Detector Media tells exactly how propaganda exploits the topic of sports and with the help of which tactics and tools it achieves its goal.
Sport has always been an essential part of the international image of any state, as it is a means of "soft power". For totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, it became a weapon of propaganda for their ideology. Thus, the 1934 World Cup and the 1936 Olympic Games played an essential role in the propaganda of Italian fascists and German Nazis. Hitler and Mussolini wanted not only to organize and conduct these sporting events in an exemplary manner but also to show the whole world the winning results and "superiority" of their nations and political regimes over their competitors. The Soviet Union, which used sports to promote communist ideology and fight the "capitalist bloc" within the framework of the Cold War, was not far behind them. The apogee of this confrontation was the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow, which were boycotted by 65 states in protest against the Soviet aggression in Afghanistan. In response, 14 countries of the "Soviet bloc" boycotted the next summer Olympics held in Los Angeles in 1984.
In the USSR, the entire sports system was controlled by the state and served its interests. There was a system of so-called sports associations, each of which was under a particular branch of the "national economy" and the largest and most powerful - under the power structures: "CSKA/SKA" («ЦСКА/СКА») (army) and "Dynamo"(«Динамо») (internal affairs bodies). Most of the leading athletes were simultaneously officers of the Soviet military, police, and special services. This system has been chiefly preserved in modern Russia, where state funding mainly supports the sport. This financing is not only direct but also indirect: for example, the Gazprom corporation, which was and is a sponsor of many sports competitions, including international ones, belongs to the Russian state by only 50.23%. Sports are also often financed by Russian oligarchs controlled by Putin. Cases of Russian sports funding by private structures unrelated to the government are isolated and have little impact on the overall picture. Here we can mention the football club "Krasnodar", which belongs to the oligarch Sergey Galitskiy.
Apart from NHL hockey players and football players who play in Europe (among the latter, there are only a few Russians), all other athletes and coaches are directly or indirectly financially dependent on the state, i.e., the ruling regime. Moreover, they are mouthpieces of the regime's propaganda. We already discussed some of them earlier. Now let's dive into more detail on Russia's tactics and tools in sports.
Glorification
Russian propaganda does not hide the use of this tactic. Back in 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that one of the ways to popularize sports is to glorify Russian athletes. The awarding of Heroes of Russia titles to such Olympic champions as skiers Lyubov Yehorova and Larisa Lazutina, as well as Greco-Roman wrestler Alexander Karelin, who is now a deputy of the Federation Council and one of the leading "mouthpieces" of Putin's propaganda in sports (on whom Ukraine imposed sanctions), was a confirmation of it.
One of the leading Russian sports "heroes" is hockey player Alexander Ovechkin. Even though he plays in the "capitalist" American-Canadian league "NHL", since 2017, Ovechkin has actively supported Putin and his regime and was a "VIP propagandist". Thus, he created the so-called "Putin Team" — a pre-election project to support Putin in the 2018 presidential elections, which united many famous Russian athletes and show business stars. However, in 2022, Ovechkin had to turn on a dime in order not to lose multi-million-dollar contracts in the "NHL": he already resorted to the convenient for many Russians rhetoric "I am out of politics and for world peace".
Waving flags
After introducing sanctions against Russian sports due to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as a result of which most of the athletes of the aggressor country were suspended from international competitions, they were faced with the question of what to do next. After all, there can be no sports progress without international competitions and institutions. It also negatively affects the financial situation of athletes. So some athletes started consultations about changing their citizenship and speaking for other countries. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said that Russians can participate in competitions under their auspices only in case of public condemnation of the war against Ukraine. Agitprop machine reacted to this, of course.
Therefore, a former Soviet ice hockey player, Olympic champion Stanislav Petukhov said: "I don't know what [Thomas] Bach [IOC president] was counting on. I only know that true athletes - patriots of our country, will never commit treason to repent of something. They follow the policy pursued by the country and its president. Undoubtedly, no one will commit treason." Similar rhetoric was used in the statements of the Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Dmitriy Chernyshenko, the head of the Russian Olympic Committee, Stanislav Pozdniakov, the leaders of some Russian sports federations, and current athletes who support Putin.
The deputy of the State Duma, Roman Teryushkov, proposed to equate the change of sports citizenship with treason: "The president signed a law according to which switching to the side of the enemy in the conditions of military operations will be considered treason. I believe that the change of sports citizenship for athletes of the national team should also be equated with an act of treason". This statement also contains elements of another propaganda tactic — intimidation.
Depreciation
Russian propaganda began to use this tactic after their athletes were suspended from international competitions due to full-scale aggression against Ukraine. Agitprop only applies depreciation in sports where Russia was strong and competitive.
The most relevant example is the World Hockey Championship, which took place in May 2023. Both Russia and Belarus were excluded from the competition. Now they only have to play friendly matches among themselves, which is what they do. The World Cup sparked a flurry of criticism among Putin-loyal representatives of the Russian hockey world. "They held some cartoon world championships in Finland and Latvia. I did not watch a single minute, a single match of this tournament!" - Vyacheslav Fetisov, a two-time Olympic champion and currently a member of the State Duma, said. Ex-hockey player Kostiantyn Menshikov commented on the third place of the Latvian national team at the tournament: "Of course, I am happy for the Latvians. Their success results from the fact that they have cooperated with Russia for many years. "Dynamo" Riga played in the KHL (КХЛ) [Russian hockey league], and children's and youth teams from Latvia came here for tournaments."
Deputy of the State Duma, Dmitriy Svishchyov, negatively assessed the level of the World Cup: "Dull and provincial World Cup is over. It was not a spectacular game. The World Cup cannot be called the World Cup without Russians and Belarusians. The strongest hockey players did not come there; only the youth and representatives of student sports took part. It's a shame for one of the world's most popular and beloved sports. It is impossible to imagine it without Russia."
Thus, Russian propaganda devalues the level of competition from which their national team has been suspended and undermines the successes of other countries, especially those not too friendly to Russia (Canada won the championship, and Latvia took third place). Similar trends are observed in other sports where the Russians had a strong position.
Victim image
The 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics became one of two critical events for Putin's sports propaganda. Billions of dollars were thrown into its preparation, a considerable part of which ended up in officials' pockets. Putin partially achieved his goal; the Russian national team narrowly won the medal count of the Olympics. However, serious problems began later. It turned out that there was a state-level doping program in Russia. The former head of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory, Grigory Rodchenkov, emigrated to the USA and began a series of sensational exposures of the program’s participants. Many Russian athletes were disqualified from international competitions and deprived of medals, including at the 2014 Olympics. After that, until 2022, Russian national teams in many sports were constantly accompanied by "doping scandals".
By that time, Russian propaganda began using this tactic in its machine. Here, it was discussed mainly within the framework of injustice and the alleged "double standards" concerning Russia. Thus, after the ban on Russian athletes from participating in the 2018 Olympics under their own flag and with the Russian anthem, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, commented: "Well, they can't overwhelm us. Not a world war, not the collapse of the Soviet Union, not sanctions. We go on and survive. [According to them, by this time], no Russian sports would be left. The revival of Russia as a sports power was not planned in the world forecasts: the youth should have gone to bed already, the stadiums should have been permanently registered as commodity markets, and the coaches should have worked for foreign teams.
Russian agitprop began to use the term "Russophobia" in all spheres, including sports. Thus, figure skater, Olympic champion, and member of the State Duma, Irina Rodnina commented on the IOC's conditions for admitting Russian athletes to competitions: "When we were punished before, we knew for what and why. Now it's just Russophobia. They want to humiliate us."
The head of the Federation of Rhythmic Gymnastics of Russia, Irina Viner-Usmanova, reacted to the suspension of Russian athletes: "It is challenging to talk about it and be in it. The feeling of injustice prevails over justice; this is an awful story for athletes and coaches. [Alexander] Bolshunov [Russian skier] won five medals at the Olympics, three of them gold. And he was suspended. It impoverishes our country. But our country will still compete; we will still go forward and show world records. Russophobia becomes arrant." There have been many similar statements by other Russian sports officials.
Name-calling on specific individuals and shaming them
In the case of agitprop, these two tactics are often intertwined. Russian athletes, coaches, sports officials, and experts are not shy to go personal and cover their rivals and opponents with "delicious Russian swear words".
Accordingly, the Olympic hockey champion and now State Duma deputy, Viacheslav Fetisov, called the president of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), Luc Tardif, a "moron" because of the suspension of the Russians and Belarusians from the world championship: "Forget about this organization. By the way, right here in St. Petersburg, we elected this moron - the new president of the IIHF. But what does it matter whether he is Tardif or not Tardif? It is a person who does not understand the meaning of anything happening."
The Olympic biathlon champion, ex-trainer, and former sports official Alexander Tikhonov went even further and reacted to the detention of a Russian hockey player in Poland on suspicion of espionage: "The question why the Poles and everyone else can mock us should be asked to the President of Russia. Ask why the Poles and the rest humiliate us. I would have long ago flattened Warsaw alongside Berlin so that Russia would be respected."
State Duma deputy in charge of sports, Roman Teryushkov, commented on the actions of the ex-football player and blogger Yevgeniy Savin, who openly condemns the Putin regime and the war, supports Ukraine, and was forced to leave Russia due to political persecution: "This scumbag, I have no other words [what to call him], starts to pour mud on our country, our soldiers, our president. Now this guy apparently didn't have enough, he also gives an interview to the blogger, Ksenia Sobchak, and without being shy, he rinses with nice words, barks at our president, at our country, and pours mud." There have also been many similar examples.
Mirroring
It is a typical tactic for Russian propaganda in general, which is used, in particular, to divert attention from their criminal actions. Propagandists make the same accusations against Russia's opponents as those against the aggressor country itself.
An example of this tactic’s use in sports is biathlon, in which the Russians had severe problems due to doping even before the full-scale aggression in Ukraine. For example, Olympic biathlon champion Dmitriy Vasiliev commented on Putin's holding of the "Friendship Games" in 2024, which are supposed to replace the Olympics: "The athletes will not refuse this [opportunity]. Even those now loudly criticizing us and urging us not to come will come. For example, the same Norwegians who have mired in doping, as soon as they see that we have good prizes, they will be the first to run [here]. They will do anything for money."
The already mentioned Alexander Tikhonov reacted to the criteria for the admission of Russian athletes to the 2024 Olympics: "This is a bunch of freaks who think only about America, and they don't care where someone dies of hunger, where there is a war. I experienced it myself when sitting in a bomb shelter in Belgrade, and they bombed the city." Tikhonov, of course, never mentions the bombing of Ukrainian civilians by Russian troops.
State Duma deputy, Roman Teryushkov, characterized the actions of soccer blogger Yevgeniy Savin as follows: "He hadn't seen anything for eight years, when the people of Donbas (English transliteration for the original language wording) were being killed, peaceful children, old people, women died at the hands of Ukrainian fascists, and he saw nothing. He was doing well and developing soccer because soccer is outside of politics." As you can see, Russian "sports" propagandists use general political narratives, not just sports ones.
Russian media propaganda also sometimes uses sports topics, but it cannot be said that it is done methodically and systematically. Agitprop responds only to specific, resonant issues. Thus, Margarita Simonyan reacted to the loss of the Russian Dina Averina in the rhythmic gymnastics competition at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and blamed the judges for it: "Cosmic bastards. I don't watch the Olympics anymore. None. Ugh. The Israeli gymnast who dropped the object will receive not a gold medal but concrete disgrace." During the same 2021 Olympics, in the studio of the program "60 Minutes" of the Russian propagandist Olga Skabeeva, insults were heard against foreign LGBT athletes who performed at the games. It drew public condemnation from the International Olympic Committee.
One of the propaganda’s directions in the sports field in Russia is to increase the loyalty of its own population. But suppose one looks at the comments on Russian sports websites. In that case, you get the impression that pro-government athletes, functionaries, and officials cause profound negativity in ordinary sports fans and supporters.
Unfortunately, Russian propaganda in sports is somewhat more successful in the international arena. If, at the beginning of the full-scale aggression against Ukraine, Russian athletes were banned from participating in international competitions in almost all sports (except for tennis, chess, and amateur boxing; in the latter two sports, the Russians directly control the international federations), then over time the situation began to change. The turning point was the adoption of the "IOC recommendations", which actually allowed athletes from the occupying country to participate in international competitions and fight for Olympic licenses in at least 16 sports.
Russian sports officials play up their dissatisfaction and categorical rejection of the IOC conditions (participation of athletes without a flag and anthem, non-involvement with military structures, as well as the obligation to sign a declaration condemning the war unleashed by Putin) to achieve more — to remove these restrictions as well.
The agitprop messages do have some effect on some sports officials and functionaries from other countries. Theses about "sport is outside of politics" and "why should athletes be responsible for the crimes of politicians?" find real support. But money has a much more significant influence on the admittance of Russian sports figures. It's no secret that world sports in some places are no less corrupt than the state apparatus of Russia itself. This country openly bought the right to host the 2018 World Cup and now spends much money lobbying the IOC and international sports federations. The Russians control some of them in whole or part, allowing them to push for the solutions they want.
