AP PHOTOS: A Decade Ago, The Sochi Olympics Saw Russia’s Soft Power Collide With Hard Realities – News18

The 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics have been President Vladimir Putin’s pet venture as he sought to develop Russia’s international clout, increase its status and impress the world.

But the Kremlin’s try at mushy energy quickly collided with onerous realities.

It grew to become the costliest Olympics ever — summer season or winter — with prices that ballooned to $55 billion and fueled suspicions of rampant corruption. Critics pointed to environmental injury from building tasks and abuse of migrant employees who constructed the 11 sports activities venues, railways, roads and different infrastructure for athletes and spectators.

Even earlier than the world descended on the balmy resort the place the Caucasus Mountains meet the Black Sea, Putin had set Russia on an more and more repressive and isolationist course. He intensified a crackdown on opposition activists, stigmatized civil society teams as “foreign agents,” authorised legal guidelines that curtailed LGBTQ+ rights, and banned adoption of Russian youngsters by U.S. mother and father.

Trying to assuage Western criticism, authorities freed imprisoned oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who had earlier challenged Putin’s authority. Also given amnesty have been Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina, members of the Pussy Riot punk collective who have been jailed for his or her anti-Putin protest in Moscow’s primary cathedral.

The Olympics kicked off on Feb. 7, 2014 with a grandiose opening ceremony watched by billions worldwide that supplied an imposing present of Russian historical past and tradition, marred solely by a glitch: Only 4 of the 5 snowflakes designed to grow to be Olympic rings earlier than erupting in fireworks truly labored.

Fears of terrorist assaults that loomed closely over the video games didn’t materialize amid tight safety measures that included putting air protection belongings close to Olympic venues, however Russia’s repressive aspect confirmed by on Feb. 19 when a tough-line Russian nationalist militia broke up a protest in central Sochi by members of Pussy Riot, beating and whipping them in an incident that drew worldwide scorn.

Russia’s quest for Olympic glory resulted in 33 medals, however these successes grew to become tainted after worldwide officers later uncovered a state-sponsored scheme to offer athletes with efficiency-enhancing medication -– a scandal that sullies the nation’s status to today. Russia needed to compete with out its flag on the 2018 Winter Olympics.

“No one can take away our victories, although they have tried,” stated Dmitry Chernyshenko, who headed the Sochi Olympics organizing committee and is now a deputy prime minister, talking at Tuesday’s opening of an exhibition marking the tenth anniversary of the Games.

As the Sochi Games wound down, violence escalated on the streets of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. Scores of individuals have been killed by sniper hearth throughout a showdown between police and protesters rallying towards a call by the pro-Moscow authorities to cancel an integration cope with the European Union.

Just because the Sochi Olympics have been closing, protesters in Kyiv pressured President Viktor Yanukovych to go away the capital and flee to Russia. Putin noticed these demonstrations as a part of a U.S.-orchestrated plot to humiliate Moscow.

Russia ultimately responded to the ouster by illegally annexing Crimea. Later, it threw its help behind separatist rebels in jap Ukraine, triggering hostilities that set the stage for the total-scale invasion that started on Feb. 24, 2022 — eight years and sooner or later after the shut of the Winter Olympics.

The resort metropolis later hosted different worldwide sporting occasions, together with Formula One racing, till the occasion was pulled from Russia in response to the battle in Ukraine.

Putin nonetheless blames the West for Yanukovych’s downfall. In December, he described it as a U.S.-led coup, including: “Our American friends did it. We haven’t forgotten it and we never will.”

(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is printed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)