FROM RUSSIA WITH BLOOD
Eamondunphy
IT’LL be 19 years in June since Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea.
His arrival changed the face of English football.
His money transformed the landscape and meant that things would never be the same again.
But why has his presence only become an issue now?
Russia’s assault on Ukraine has forced many to take note of Russian power and influence around the world.
Russian power in England was never just about Abramovich.
There is a reason why the English capital was nicknamed Londongrad since the turn of the millennium.
The UK issued a staggering 2,581 investor visas to Russian citizens from 2008 until the scheme was scrapped just last month.
London became the home of choice for a host of Russian oligarchs.
Their influence was everywhere — schools, universities, charities, newspapers...
Some of the investment was legitimate, some of it wasn’t.
Money
Anti-corruption charity Transparency International has identified £1.5bn of Russian money in London property, the majority of which it says is held in offshore tax havens.
There were strong ties between Russian oligarchs and the Conservative Party.
Across the world of sport, there is a haste by many now to distance themselves from Russia.
UEFA have dumped Gazprom, their main sponsor.
The Olympic Federation of Ireland have called for an outright ban of the Russian and Belarussian National Olympic Committees.
Everton have suspended all sponsorship deals with Russian companies backed by Alisher Usmanov.
Is there a real willingness for sport to change, or is this all window dressing?
The reality is that sport is deeply corrupted at all levels all around the world.
Throughout his reign, Vladimir Putin has used sport as a shield and a weapon.
On his watch, Russia actively went after the hosting of major sporting events as a means to enhance the country’s reputation.
Events of the scale of the World Cup in soccer, the Winter Olympics and the World Championships in athletics went to Russia.
The world of Russian sport is often a brutal and unforgiving one.
That is something that is made crystal clear in a book — Under the Lights and In the Dark: Untold Stories of Women’s Soccer Gwendolyn Oxenham.
Dani Foxhoven’s story is particularly stark. She was a graduate of the University of Portland who was forced to look abroad after the US women’s pro league folded.
She took up an offer from FC Energiya Voronezh in Russia. Foxhoven detailed forced injections of supposed vitamins, coaches physically assaulting players, military style training camps and clubs with mega-budgets but no-one watching the games.
The talk was of money laundering and mafia involvement.
“Months from now, when Dani returns to the United States, she will get herself tested to see just what substances she has in her,’’ wrote Oxenham.
“She will test positive for three different types of anabolic steroids. She will feel angry and tired and sad.”
Judo
Putin couldn’t care less. His sport is judo. He isn’t a football fan, but realised the impact of the World Cup.
And hosting the tournament is part of his mission to make Russia the sole superpower of the 21st century.
Using sport for political leverage was part of the Soviet play-book and Putin, a former KGB agent, has bought completely into that notion.
In 2016, for example, Moscow hosted 64 major international events across a host of sports — from European Championships in rowing and canoeing to World Championships in hockey and modern pentathlon.
Even when it beca that Russia was invol huge state-sponsored regime, the reaction international sportin munity was tame.
Maybe that was an tion that sportsw — laundering a rep through the medium — really works.
Look at the influenc