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Vladimir Putin apparently with a glass of champagne next to the now 16-year-old Kamila Valiyeva
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IMAGO/Vladimir Astapkovich / IMAGO/SNA
Russian President Vladimir Putin uses sport for political purposes.
Now, however, he loses a prestigious event in the coming year: The ice hockey world association IIHF has withdrawn the 2023 World Cup from Russia.
The association announced this after a council meeting in Zurich.
Because of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, the "safety and well-being of players, officials, media representatives and fans" is at risk, it said in justification.
A new venue will be announced at the end of May during the World Cup in Finland.
Originally, the game should have been played from May 5 to 21, 2023 in Saint Petersburg, Putin's hometown.
The head of the Kremlin is considered a big ice hockey fan and a passionate player himself.
And for Putin, sport isn't just a hobby, it's also a propaganda tool, whether at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi or the 2018 World Cup. Or at a ceremony in the Kremlin for medal winners from the Winter Games last February in Beijing.
Valiyeva and "Perfection"
Among other things, Putin honored figure skater Kamila Valiyeva, who celebrated her 16th birthday on Tuesday.
In February she rose to superstardom in Beijing and won gold in the team.
Valiewa was the first woman to do a quadruple jump at the Olympics.
You have turned the sport into a real art form, Putin said at the ceremony.
The teenager had tested positive for the banned heart drug trimetazidine at the Russian championships at the end of December.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has banned trimetazidine because, among other things, it can increase endurance.
"Such perfection cannot be dishonestly achieved through the use of substances or manipulation," Putin now asserted.
The case only became public during the competitions in Beijing and caused a stir internationally.
Valiewa was considered a gold favorite in the individual, but only finished fourth after falling in tears.
Putin and the exclusion of Russian athletes
Putin fired at the ceremony against bans on Russian athletes.
Putin described the exclusion of Belarusian and Russian athletes from the Paralympics as a result of the Ukraine war as a violation of the basic principles of sport and of their human rights.
As a result of the invasion, many international sports federations have excluded athletes from Russia and Belarus, citing, among other things, that the athletes are being exploited.
The Russian journalist Leonid Martynyuk wrote in a guest article for SPIEGEL: "One of the most important tools that Vladimir Putin uses to stay in power is propaganda through sport."
hba/sid/Reuters