MOSCOW.- The Russian president Vladimir Putin He directed his “sincere congratulations” on Thursday to Kirsty Coventry, the former swimmer chosen new president of the COIdespite the strong tensions between Moscow and the organization based in Lausana on the occasion of the Russian offensive in Ukraine since 2022.
“I am convinced that their unique experience and interest in the real promotion of the noble Olympic ideals will contribute to the success of this function of high responsibility,” Putin wrote in a letter addressed to Kirsty Coventry and published by the Kremlin.
Putin’s reaction was not the only arrival from Russia, excluded from the Olympic Games for their offensive in Ukraine in 2022.
“We are glad to see a stronger, more independent and more prosperous Olympic movement under the direction of a new leader, and to see Russia go back on the Olympic podium,” said Russian Sports Minister and president of the Russian Olympic Committee, Mijáil Degtiariov.
The Russian minister congratulated Coventry, first woman and first African person chosen at the head of the International Olympic Committee, and highlighted “his brilliant sports career, his Olympic victories, his records and his contribution to the development of sport.”
Among the hot affairs waiting for the old swimmer is the fate of the Russian athletes, less than a year at the Winter Games in Milan-Cortina 2026, in Italy.
“We hope that our athletes can continue participating in international competitions,” said the spokesman of the Russian presidency, Dmitri Peskov.
Relationship deterioration
Relationships between Moscow and world sports instances drag almost a decade of conflicts, between revelations of a state doping system in Russia during Sochi Winter Olympic Games in 2014 and verbal escalations amid geopolitical tensions.
Tensions that increased with the Russian offensive in Ukraine in February 2022, which led COI to exclude Russia from the Olympic Games.
In the Paris Games in 2024, Russia was only represented by a small delegation of 15 athletes, under neutral flag, after strict selection criteria.
In that context, Moscow had criticized “racism and neo -Nazism” of the IOC, while the Olympic instance accused Russia of “politicizing sport.”
