Cold War or WWIII? Russian invasion of Ukraine draws comparisons
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine evoke memories of 20th-century conflicts in Europe, leaving many asking: is this a new Cold War?
Scott L. Hall, USA TODAY
Governing bodies across the world of sports on Monday moved to bar Russia and its teams from international competition as part of a broader global effort to isolate the country following its invasion of Ukraine.
The international governing bodies for ice hockey and soccer were among the most prominent to act Monday, announcing that they have banned all of Russia’s national and club teams from participating in their events “until further notice.” The bans could knock Russia’s men’s hockey team out of the world championships in May and its men’s soccer team out of the World Cup later this year.
“Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine,” world soccer governing body FIFA said in part of its statement, released jointly with the Union of European Football Associations.
The announcements came several hours after the International Olympic Committee released a statement urging organizers in all sports to not invite or allow Russian athletes to compete in international events. Its request also included athletes from Belarus, which has allowed Russia to station troops and launch attacks from its territory. The International Ice Hockey Federation’s decision includes Belarus.
Sports officials in Russia fired back at the global sports community Monday, with Russian Olympic Committee president Stanislav Pozdnyakov alluding to “discriminatory” measures and noting that the Russians “strongly object” to them.
“International sports organizations should not have entered the political arena,” Dmitry Svishchev, who chairs a committee in the Russian legislature that oversees sports, told state-run news agency TASS. “Sport has always been and should remain outside of politics, although, unfortunately, this is not an obvious fact for everyone.”
Russia could ostensibly appeal the bans to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, a Swiss-based court that typical offers the final say on global sports disputes.
Among the other sports organizations that rebuked Russia on Monday:
► The NHL announced it has suspended its partnerships with Russian businesses and discontinued “any consideration of Russia as a location for any future competitions involving the NHL.”
► The U.S. Soccer Federation said in a statement it would not share a field with a team from a warring Russia “no matter the level of competition or circumstance,” while calling the invasion of Ukraine “heinous and inhumane.”
► The national Olympic committees of Great Britain and Germany called for “the immediate exclusion of Russia and Belarus from the international sports family until further notice.”
► The World Curling Federation announced it will prohibit Russian athletes from competing at its world championships in the coming months.
The IOC also directly sanctioned Russian president Vladimir Putin by withdrawing the Olympic Order – an award for contributions to the Olympic movement – that it gave him in 2001, as well as those bestowed to two other Russian government officials. It cited “the extremely grave violation of the Olympic Truce and other violations of the Olympic Charter by the Russian government in the past” as reasons for the move.
The IOC did not, however, go so far as to suspend the national Olympic committees of Russia and Belarus. More than 100 athletes and various sports organizations signed a letter requesting as much authored by an advocacy group called Global Athlete.
It is immediately unclear how the IOC’s stance will impact the 2022 Paralympics, which are set to begin Friday in Beijing. Craig Spence, a spokesperson for the International Paralympic Committee, told The Associated Press that the organization’s board was set to meet Wednesday to discuss how to proceed.
Some of Russia’s 71 Paralympic athletes have already arrived in Beijing, Spence told the news agency, but none of the Ukraine’s 20 have done so. Russian athletes, should they compete, will be representing the Russian Paralympic Committee rather than the country itself due to ongoing sanctions for Russia’s state-sponsored doping efforts.
It’s possible that Paralympic athletes from other countries could take a stand by declining to compete against Russians altogether – a move that has already occurred in another sport.
Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina, who is currently ranked 15th on the WTA Tour, announced Monday that she will not play her first match at the Monterrey Open against Russia’s Anastasia Potapova unless tennis’ governing bodies prohibit Russian players, from competing under their national symbols, colors, flags or anthems.
“I do not blame any of the Russian athletes,” Svitolina wrote on social media. “They are not responsible for the invasion of our motherland.”
All told, the efforts to isolate Russia in the international sports community follow similar steps in finance, politics, trade and other spheres since the beginning of the invasion Thursday. At least 406 civilians had been killed or wounded in the war as of early Monday, according to the UN’s Human Rights Council.
Contributing: Katie Wadington; The Associated Press
Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.
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