Otto Leinonen
The Russian sports minister’s comment underlines the connection between sports and politics, writes Iltalehti sports editor Otto Leinonen.
Sports have been important to Vladimir Putin. PDO
In Russia, sport is connected to politics. Many athletes are currently fighting in Ukraine.
A recent example of the connection between politics and sports is the sports cooperation between China and Russia. Inside The Games website reported at the beginning of May that the cooperation agreement was signed by Chinese Sports Minister Gao Zhidan and Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin.
The signing of the agreement was witnessed by Li Qiang, Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China.
The purpose of the cooperation is to share information and experiences and to organize meetings and sports events. Russia is isolated during the war, and the country doesn’t have many friends anymore. China has been one of Russia’s few partners, and the two countries have grown closer as the war has progressed.
Sports cooperation between the countries is a logical continuation of this development. Already earlier in December, the countries signed an agreement to organize three hundred sports events together.
– We are united by the understanding that we must be together and oppose the negative phenomena that are now occurring in the world. Such phenomena include discrimination, the politicization of sports and the restriction of athletes’ rights in competitions, Matytsin said now about the new cooperation agreement.
After that, Matytsin underlined how sports and politics work hand in hand in Russia.
– The cooperation protocol is part of the foreign policy strategy defined by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Matytsin said.
That’s where it came from. Black on white.
Russia has also shown with its actions how sports are an indelible part of the country’s foreign policy.
The Russian Championat reported this week that Putin had signed a law according to which The sports organizations and federations of the conquered territories in Ukraine will be merged into the Russian sports system. Russia has illegally occupied the eastern parts of Ukraine. For example, Russia has already annexed the sports federation of the Crimean peninsula.
With the new law, Russia aims to annex the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia to itself, also in terms of sports, and to form subdivisions of sports organizations in the regions.
Russian Deputy Sports Minister Odes Bajsultanov, on the other hand, said last week that the country is trying to renew the sports infrastructure of the conquered regions and to get athletes from the regions to wear Russian colors.
– When a person walks in wearing a Russian uniform, in the colors of our flag, there is no need to explain anything. You can see that Russia has arrived, not just for a moment or a minute, but forever, this is “our territory”.
Does this comment sound more like sports or foreign policy?
Oleg Matytsin is the Minister of Sports of Russia. PDO