The soft touches of sport slowly unpick elaborate web with Putin’s regime

Early last Thursday, overcome by the desire to do something, anything, however petty, to try to fight off that sense of desperate futility, I started sending out emails to the sports federations who had events scheduled in Russia this year asking if they were going to cancel them. There were already reports that Uefa was talking about moving the Champions League final, later that day the FIA announced it was cancelling the Russian GP, and Rugby Europe that it was calling off Russia’s upcoming match against Georgia. A lot of the Olympic sports, though, were moving a little more slowly.

Fina, which was due to hold two international swimming championships in Russia in the next few months, said it was “closely monitoring the situation” but “at present, there are no plans to change the current competition schedule.” The FIVB, which was due to hold the men’s volleyball world championships in Russia in August, replied that its event was “progressing as planned” and that “the FIVB believes that sport should always remain separate from politics, we are closely monitoring the situation to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all participants at our events.” It is still hard to read those words without wondering exactly which channels they were watching that day.

There was a lot of this public relations pabulum going about, there were euphemistic statements from the International Judo Federation, which said it was cancelling an event in Kazan because of “the current international situation”, and Fina, again, which said it was calling off a water polo match between Russia and Greece because of “the escalation of the conflict,” and the International Boxing Association, which said it was considering rescheduling a tournament in Russia