CAMPAIGN -
Russian Sports : the athletes of war
The Russian 'Sportokratura' is a political, economic and sporting machine serving the regime
Since 2022, PLU has been conducting a benchmark investigation - picked up by Le Monde and L'Équipe - on the sportokratura, the system by which Putin transforms Russian athletes into propagandists for his war of aggression.
PLU mobilised public opinion before the Paris 2024 Olympics, paid solemn tribute to Ukrainian athletes who fell in battle, and led a protest action on Quai Branly during the reintegration of Russian athletes into the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games.
Our work against the gradual normalisation of Russia's return to international sport continues.
What Pour l'Ukraine specifically pleads for
Understanding what is at stake
The sportokratura
SPORT + KRATOS (strength, power in Ancient Greek) + NOMENKLATURA
A concept coined by Lukas Aubin (IRIS), "sportokratura" refers to the system established by Putin: a politico-economic-sporting machine where elite sport is entirely at the service of ideology and war propaganda. Oligarchs, federations, military athletes, and the paramilitary youth movement Yunarmia (1.3 million members) constitute its cogs. The Russian army officially has two missions: to win the war in Ukraine and to win Olympic medals.
At the top of this pyramid, Putin's own athletic physique—judoka, hockey player, swimmer—is carefully cultivated by Kremlin communications staff. This is what Lukas Aubin calls "Putin branding": the instrumentalization of the president's sporting image as a tool of soft power, amplified globally by RT and Sputnik to promote Russia as an alternative to Western hegemony.
Tatiana Kudashova, three-time European taekwondo champion and world medalist, poses alongside Sergei Shoigu, Russian Defense Minister, after receiving a medal from the Ministry of Defense.
On her social media: pro-war posts, photos with Shoigu, and awards accepted from a governor sanctioned by Washington and London for his support of the invasion of Ukraine. The IOC demands neutrality from Russian athletes. Tatiana Kudashova illustrates why this neutrality is a fiction.
Why Russian athletes should not participate in the Olympic Games and, by extension, international competitions: four structural arguments
The Olympic ideal repeatedly flouted
Russia violated Olympic truces in 2008 (Georgia), 2014, and 2022 (Ukraine). Its state-sponsored doping program, described as a "shocking and unprecedented attack" by the IOC, reveals a structural disregard for the rules common to the entire international sports movement. More than 363 Ukrainian sports facilities have been destroyed, and more than 650 athletes have been killed. No international federation can host athletes from a country that simultaneously denies the right to exist of its opponents.
Neutrality: a charade demonstrated in all competitions
The Tokyo experience demonstrated this under a neutral banner: tracksuits in national colors, the Tchaikovsky anthem, the ROC acronym in Cyrillic. At the Doha 2023 World Judo Championships, Warrant Officer Inal Tasoev competed in direct violation of the IOC criteria that his federation had nevertheless promised to respect. At Milan-Cortina 2026, Russia marched under its national colors. From the World Athletics Championships to the European Swimming Championships, no competition can guarantee true neutrality.
State athletes, not independent athletes
The investigation by Pour l'Ukraine , republished by Le Monde and L'Équipe, establishes that 73 of the 91 Russian medalists at the Tokyo Olympics are military personnel, police officers, members of CSKA Moscow or Dynamo Moscow, or supported the invasion—including Dina Averina, Evgeny Rylov, and Viktoria Listunova, who wore the "Z" at Luzhniki Stadium in March 2022. This profile is not limited to the Olympic Games: Russian delegations in all international competitions are structurally composed of the same state-sponsored athletes. Only two Tokyo medalists have spoken out against the war.
A global system that contaminates every competition
The sportocratura doesn't stop at the Olympic Games. Putin controls international federations through oligarchs (boxing, fencing, shooting). Nikita Nagornyy, a three-time Olympic medalist, heads Yunarmia, the paramilitary youth movement. At the top: the Putin branding—the carefully orchestrated image of his own athletic physique, amplified by RT and Sputnik, as an instrument of global soft power. Every Russian podium finish in any international competition is a platform offered to this system.
Ukrainian athletes: what lies behind normalisation and the return of Russians and Belarusians
The debate over the return of Russian athletes is taking place in the hushed halls of the IOC and international federations. Meanwhile, Ukrainian athletes are training—when they can—under bombardment.
Training conditions
More than 363 sports facilities have been destroyed or damaged on Ukrainian territory since February 2022.
Training sessions are interrupted daily by air raid alerts — some athletes are training in underground shelters.
Clubs closed, competitions cancelled, access to international facilities uncertain or impossible
Human reality
More than 650 elite athletes have been killed by Russian aggression since February 2022, according to the Ukrainian Olympic Committee.
Hundreds more are mobilized, wounded, displaced, or without news of relatives imprisoned in Russia
Children of Ukrainian athletes are among the thousands of children forcibly deported to Russia
The double institutional injustice
Vladislav Heraskevych, a Ukrainian athlete, was disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics for displaying the message "No to war in Ukraine" on his helmet — in defiance of Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter, which Russia has been violating with impunity since 2008.
At Milan-Cortina 2026, the Ukrainian Paralympic delegation was banned from marching with its country within its internationally recognized borders — while Russian athletes marched under their national colors.
Yevhen Valentinovich Malyshev was a Ukrainian biathlete and soldier. He participated in the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Master of Sports of Ukraine in judo Stanislav Gulenkov was killed in Donetsk region during a combat mission
Further Reading
Article in
The Conversation, by Lukas Aubin
"The Sportocratura under Vladimir Putin: A Geopolitics of Russian Sport"
