On the sporting stage, Russia has racked up meaningful wins, engaging in one of Vladimir Putin’s favorite arenas: the geopolitics of soft power. Amid negotiations with Washington over a hypothetical “peace agreement” with Kyiv, the Russian leader seeks, away from politics, to end Russia’s isolation and the Western sanctions imposed on Moscow after it invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Nearly four years later, this normalization is playing out through sports. “In this area as elsewhere, the Kremlin now goes beyond soft power and is resorting to ‘sharp power’: targeting the opposing camp to infiltrate informal spaces and spread its narrative. The aim is twofold: to divide the adversary and find partners willing to join its side,” explained Lukas Aubin, a geopolitics researcher at France’s Institute for International and Strategic Relations.
Russia recently scored a legal victory. Russian skiers, as well as those from Belarus, are now authorized to compete, as individuals and under neutral status, in events organized by FIS, the International Ski and Snowboard Federation, including Olympic qualifiers for the 2026 Milano Cortina Games (February 6-22, 2026).
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