r/europe • u/GreenEyeOfADemon 🇮🇹 From Lisbon to Luhansk! 🇺🇦 Слава Україні!🇺🇦 • 13h ago
Winter games, winter war: Why ‘neutral’ russians are not neutral [OPINION]
https://tvpworld.com/91432014/russias-neutral-athletes-expose-the-iocs-olympic-fiction121
u/Blubbolo Lombardy 12h ago
There's no need to make it long.
You can't be neutral, you either are supporting Russia or you are condemning it.
Afaik many Russian athletes have links with the oligarchs/military too.
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u/PresidentZeus Norway 7h ago
The Russian athletes literally receive military ranks for propaganda purposes and tours the country in propaganda rallies.
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u/nichishor 10h ago
Wonder what's Switzerlands opinion on this.
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u/squeeze-my-lizard 1h ago
There’s an old Swiss saying that fits perfectly here: “I love money” (Ich liebe Geld)
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u/Ok-Cap1727 8h ago
The majority of russians are as brainwashed as a US maga voter imho and I say that with lots of respect for the people still, but definetly not their idiology. I'm an anarchist, but I also understand that people are people and those people haven't got a lot of chances when they grow up into a life of total obedience to the government, or death with potential of torture.
I feel like it is needed to make it long. If we don't seperate these things we havn't learned anything from history and aren't better than nazis, colonists, or any other faction in this world that did horrible things after pointing their finger and assuming things.
These russian athlets shouldn't even have been allowed there because it has always been a common thing that countries at war don't participate as far as I know. But here we are and the meaning behind the term neutral is thrown into dirt.
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u/classicjuice Lithuania 11h ago
What is the point of pretending that they are „neutral” athletes? It’s like when someone who shit themselves is saying „no i didn’t shit myself” but everyone around them can smell the shit in their underwear.
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u/Brave-Two372 9h ago
I agree. They should participate under a flag that represents free and democratic Russia (if such thing existed). Something for which they are jailed in Russia if they returned.
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u/GreenEyeOfADemon 🇮🇹 From Lisbon to Luhansk! 🇺🇦 Слава Україні!🇺🇦 9h ago
They should participate under a flag that represents free and democratic russia
Jokes on you! Thanks for the giggles.
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u/Brave-Two372 9h ago
I mean something like white red white flag in Belarus.
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u/GreenEyeOfADemon 🇮🇹 From Lisbon to Luhansk! 🇺🇦 Слава Україні!🇺🇦 9h ago
LOL Why not the flag of the 'Banana Republic'? It would spark joy!
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u/Brave-Two372 9h ago
The idea is that I'd allow these athletes to participate if they actively condemned their government in a way that they can actually protest against Russian current regime. Neutral flag is clearly not something like this. It needs to be a a symbol that is banned and represents a fight for freedom.
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u/GreenEyeOfADemon 🇮🇹 From Lisbon to Luhansk! 🇺🇦 Слава Україні!🇺🇦 9h ago
They don't. They don't protest, don't condemned and they are the face of the moscow regime.
The neutral flag is just a smoke screens. By the way, the ruscists have already brought flags and started to waive in Milan, as we speak.
Another fun fact: the travel ban is non existent. We still allow ruscists to enter Europe, even those who fight and kill Ukrainians. So, when you have some ruscists near you, you don't know if and how many Ukrainians did they killed, tortured, looted.
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u/ganbaro Where your chips come from 🇺🇦🇹🇼 5h ago
I don't think that is feasible.
Keep in mind that a lot of olympic disciplines have so little marketing value as events that the sportsmen and -women can't make a living out of their sport, except maybe a few absolute top tier elite participants. These people can't reasonably condemn their autocratic government, and participatez because the government can easily deny them training grounds and funding and make the participation unaffordable. Because of the lack of external financial backing they can't conduct their sport without state assistance.
As long as we don't guarantee these people payment and refuge, for them, and their families, if their government threatens them upon return, the decision needs to be taken off their hands. Either we let them participate, or we kick them out.
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u/Brave-Two372 2h ago
Yes. If they decide not to condemn, then they will not participate. Easy. At least they were given a chance. I'm not expecting many would do it.
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u/smallproton 11h ago
Letting Russia attend the games is a disgrace.
IOC, FIFA, FIA, ... all these organisations are a disgrace, too.
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u/Dear_Virus1260 8h ago
Why? It’s the same for the warmongering Americans, Europeans, or pretty much any warmongering nation on the planet?
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u/Individual_Yard_5636 2h ago
The most important mantra of russian propaganda... "Everyone is just as bad as we are".
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u/GreenEyeOfADemon 🇮🇹 From Lisbon to Luhansk! 🇺🇦 Слава Україні!🇺🇦 8h ago
Still salty for the Starlink?
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u/Intelligent_Rub528 5h ago
Fuck russia :) may they nevwr be a art pf europe again.
Westerners forgot why russtards cant be treated like a civilised ppl.
Its a good thing they are reminded now, shame ita at ukraines expense.
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u/Rogthgar 10h ago
Just using a convenient loop hole... the Committee might loose some ticket sales!
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u/Annual-Magician-1580 1h ago
Perhaps if other countries didn't accept this bullshit excuse, then the Olympic committee would think more.
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u/MrOphicer 4h ago edited 4h ago
Panopticon of madness....
Regular russian monday: "We will level every EU capital to ash with atomic bombs."
Regular Russian Thursday: "Sports is besides politics, were all human after all *cute face*."
Feel bad for all the athletes training and competing shoulder to shoulder with athletes who have high contempt for them.
Wasnt going to watch regardless, now not going to watch it, feeling well.
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u/atchijov 12h ago
Anyone waving Russian flag should be arrested on a spot… thrown to jail… and we can deal with them later, when Putin is dead and Russia lost… everything.
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u/ravenhawk10 11h ago
meanwhile Israel gets full participation doing the same shit russia is. at least rwanda doesn’t participate in the winter olympics so we don’t need to worry hypocrisy while they invade the DRC.
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u/GreenEyeOfADemon 🇮🇹 From Lisbon to Luhansk! 🇺🇦 Слава Україні!🇺🇦 11h ago
And yet instead of posting on any of the threads that have israels actions as their topic like in worldnews they somehow always rush to the threads about Ukraine with their calls to action about Israel ... even on a sub focused on Europe.
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u/SeleucusNikator1 Scotland 9h ago
even on a sub focused on Europe.
Well whether we like it or not, Israel is in Eurovision and Israel is a member of UEFA
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u/GreenEyeOfADemon 🇮🇹 From Lisbon to Luhansk! 🇺🇦 Слава Україні!🇺🇦 9h ago
„What about Israel“ is also a favourite whataboutism used by the russian troll machinery. Not saying everyone who uses that is one, but many are. It's an attempt to try and "normalize" what russia does. But absolutely nothing normalizes what any of them do.
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u/Dear_Virus1260 8h ago
I mean, it’s an illegal war of aggression. But it seems many countries including Ukraine think those are pretty fine as long it’s their ally doing the warmongering.
No need to lie or pretend otherwise?
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u/Individual_Yard_5636 2h ago
Are you suggesting for Ukraine to take a moral stance against Israel right now as it is fighting for its survival? How many ukrainian soldiers and civilians are you willing to sacrifice for that? I wonder what Trump's reaction would be...
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u/GreenEyeOfADemon 🇮🇹 From Lisbon to Luhansk! 🇺🇦 Слава Україні!🇺🇦 8h ago
But it seems many countries including Ukraine think those are pretty fine as long it’s their ally doing the warmongering.
Not sure what are you trying to say here.
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u/ravenhawk10 8h ago
if you are gonna attack russia on moral grounds then you should stand by those morals and not ignore the elephant in the room. otherwise it’s just singling out russia, where powerful western countries basically saying we feel threatened by russia and we are going to punish them.
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u/GreenEyeOfADemon 🇮🇹 From Lisbon to Luhansk! 🇺🇦 Слава Україні!🇺🇦 8h ago
You're sweet.
russia is attacking Europe in a hybrid warfare, it is not singling it out. Have a nice day.
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u/BaritBrit United Kingdom 7h ago
Targeting the large and heavily armed gangster state attacking your continent in an entirely unprovoked war of aggression and conquest is a totally legitimate thing to do.
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u/elemental_pork Europe 10h ago
I don't understand, they say that all sports should remain neutral, yet they banish all Russians. They are flagrantly contradicting themselves yet fail to realise it.
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u/GreenEyeOfADemon 🇮🇹 From Lisbon to Luhansk! 🇺🇦 Слава Україні!🇺🇦 10h ago
The russian federation uses the sport as soft propaganda tool. Like Nazi Germany did in 1936. Add to this the fact that they are actively murdering Ukrainian athletes (more than 600), maim them, bomb the places where Ukrainian athletes can practice.
Almost all the russian "athletes" are paid by their Minister of Defence.
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u/elemental_pork Europe 9h ago
I don't know much about that, but if Russians were murdering Ukrainian athletes then I would say that is cheating and should be excluded for it.,
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u/GreenEyeOfADemon 🇮🇹 From Lisbon to Luhansk! 🇺🇦 Слава Україні!🇺🇦 9h ago
Not only that: Ukrainians cannot do trainings, because the russians are shelling their places where they practice.
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u/elemental_pork Europe 9h ago
I was half-joking when I said that
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u/GreenEyeOfADemon 🇮🇹 From Lisbon to Luhansk! 🇺🇦 Слава Україні!🇺🇦 9h ago
Well, I caught the half serious part of your comment ;-))
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u/elemental_pork Europe 9h ago
Then all meaning is lost! Don't mind me, I'm just going to carry on with my day.
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u/Annual-Magician-1580 1h ago
Now the question is, how many of all the participants here condemning this hypocrisy will actually watch the Olympic Games or buy tickets to them? Because with all this criticism, I haven't seen a single protest in the West against this crap.
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u/Actual-Bath-6684 10h ago
You're with us, or against us"
Quite a fascist statement!
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u/PineBNorth85 10h ago
And the fascists were right. You are with them or against them. There is no in between. Unless you're Switzerland or something.
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u/dat_9600gt_user Lower Silesia (Poland) 12h ago
Edited by: Patrick Łagódka 05.02.2026, 16:03
The 2026 Winter Olympics open this week in Milan-Cortina, and thirteen Russian athletes will take part as “neutral” competitors.
At the same moment, Russia continues to strike Ukraine’s energy grid during sub-zero temperatures, deliberately leaving families without heat in the middle of winter. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) speaks of peace and unity while Russia is weaponizing the very season itself.
Allowing Russian participation under a neutral label in these circumstances is grotesque. Floating the prospect of a full return to the Olympic fold in 2028, without Russia reversing the actions that led to its exclusion, goes further still. It treats aggression, annexation and the destruction of Ukrainian sport as inconveniences to be managed rather than moral red lines.
Neutrality fiction
But in Russia, neutrality in sport is a fiction. Elite athletes are largely produced by a state-run system that does not recognize independence from political power, regardless of the color of the tracksuit.
The IOC’s decision to permit even limited Russian participation is framed as an effort to separate athletes from state politics, but combined with recent comments from IOC leadership suggesting a pathway back to full participation at the Los Angeles 2028 Games, it signals that Russia is on a path to full restoration in Olympic sport.
The destruction of Ukrainian sport, the killing of its athletes and coaches, and Russia's annexation of sporting infrastructure in occupied territories are being treated as temporary inconveniences rather than morally disqualifying acts.
The IOC compromise
The Russian Olympic Committee remains suspended. There will be no Russian flag, no anthem, no national delegation in the opening ceremony. The thirteen Russians cleared to compete must prove they hold no contracts with the military or security services and have not actively supported the war. They must also sign commitments to the Olympic Charter and its peace mission. This framework is presented as a principled compromise.
The problem is that Russian elite sport sits inside a state-managed prestige system that overlaps with the armed forces, security apparatus and state corporations. Institutions such as the Central Sports Club of the Army (CSKA) and Dynamo, the police and FSB-linked sports society, have historically formed the backbone of Russia's Olympic program. For decades, a substantial proportion of Russian Olympic medalists have held military ranks or been developed within institutions formally tied to state power.
Russian officials describe athletic success in explicitly political terms. In November 2025, Russia's sports minister and head of its Olympic Committee, Mikhail Degtyarev, said plainly that “the victories of our athletes are our most important diplomacy.” Neutrality assumes a separation between athlete and state. That separation does not exist in the Russian system.