Absent from the Olympic Games in Paris this summer, the Russian flag will fly during the Friendship Games in September, as in Tokyo in 2021 and in Rio in 2016. And for good reason, this event is organized by Russia, a sort of response to the banning by the IOC (International Olympic Committee) of the Russian banner for the Olympic Games. Only Russian athletes who do not support the war against Ukraine will be able to compete, but under a neutral banner.
And it will be up to the Russian national federations of each sport to decide on the integration or not of each athlete. The fault lies in repeated transgression of anti-doping rules via an institutionalized doping system, which has led to open conflict between the IOC and the Kremlin for almost ten years. “There is a real break between the IOC and Russia that we have not seen since the Cold War,” notes Lukas Aubin, research director at the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (Iris), specializing in geopolitics of sport and Russia.
So, to stay in the game of world sport, Russia will organize a counter-event in September, the Friendship Games, which will bring together just under 8,000 athletes around 35 sports, some of which are quite original, such as padel , MMA or chess. These Friendship Games will be held in Moscow and Yekaterinburg. The objective? “Do not be excluded from world sport and create a new world order of sport”, according to Kévin Veyssière, founder of the media FC Geopolitics and sports geopolitics analyst.
The latter recalls that the same event had already been held in 1984. At the time, the communist bloc had boycotted the Los Angeles Olympics. “The event was created by Russia to have an alternative to the Olympics because it does not have the possibility of sending its athletes under its colors,” explains Kévin Veyssière. For Lukas Aubin, holding the Friendship Games has another objective: “Russia seeks to destabilize, to kick in the anthill. This is his strategy of chaos. »
Competition at the Olympics?
Alternative competitions to the Olympic Games already exist, such as the Commonwealth Games, without this posing a problem to the Olympic Committee. But, in this specific case, the IOC takes a dim view of the holding of these Friendship Games. In a statement, the organization based in Lausanne, Switzerland, calls on the sporting world to “reject all participation and support” in this event. “The IOC does not have the legal capacity to ban the Friendship Games. He condemns their organization because it is a politicized event. And the Committee tries to be politically neutral, it is aware of the politicization of sport,” explains Kévin Veyssière.
But from there to creating competition at the Olympic Games? It seems complicated to compete with the 10,500 athletes from more than 200 countries who will be present in Paris this summer. “They cannot be a credible alternative to the Olympic Games, which weigh very heavily in the global balance of sport,” believes Lukas Aubin. No matter, the event should be a long-term one. “It is already planned that the 2028 edition will be held in a country allied to Russia. » A winter version in Sochi is already planned for 2026.
The organizers announce the presence of 70 countries, without specifying which ones, and a budget of more than 8 billion rubles. “It will be interesting to see who will participate in the Friendship Games, because participation can be seen as an endorsement of Vladimir Putin’s policies. The impact of these Games will depend on the number of delegations and headliners who will be there. »
Holding this event is part of Vladimir Putin’s policy since he came to power in 1999. “There is a desire to demonstrate Russian power and renewal through the organization of sporting events. In history, sport has always been a means of putting forward a political regime,” recalls the founder of FC Geopolitics, for whom Moscow associates the IOC with the West. In recent years, Russia organized the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014 and then the Football World Cup in 2018. “But this policy has been undermined since 2015 and the revelations about state doping. And even more so since 2022 and the war in Ukraine. » In 2023, the Russian Olympic Committee was suspended from the Olympic movement after the four Ukrainian regions annexed by the Kremlin were integrated under its authority.
This is not the only sporting event put on by the Kremlin. Last February, Russia organized the Future Games, a two-week competition held in Kazan where 2.0 sports, such as drone races or robot battles, were represented. In June, the Brics Games (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) will also be held. A competition organized in Kazan, further proof of the Russian desire to free itself from the Olympic fold.
