Monthly Archives: July 2024

Russian President Vladimir Putin was once a major player in the Olympic movement, spending tens of billions of dollars to host the Sochi Winter Games in 2014. Now his nation is barely participating in this year's Paris Summer Games. Pavel Golovkin/AP hide caption

PARIS Three years ago, more than 330 Russian athletes arrived in Tokyo for the last Summer Games. It was a powerhouse contingent that managed to score 71 Olympic medals in Tokyo.

This year in Paris, International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials say Russia will field scarcely more than a dozen athletes.

"We have 15 [athletes] with Russian passports," said Kit McConnell, the IOC's sport director, who added that the number who actually compete may change.

McConnell noted that Russian athletes will compete in only 10 sports disciplines, down from 30 just a few years ago.

The dramatic decline in Russia's involvement in the Olympic movement follows years of doping scandals that began in 2014, heightened by international condemnation that followed Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Ahead of the Paris Games, the IOC invited dozens of Russian athletes to compete but only as neutrals.

They would not be allowed to fly the Russian flag or play their country's national anthem.

IOC rules also banned any Russian athletes who are "actively supporting" the invasion of Ukraine, or who have served in Russia's military.

Russian officials balked at those limitations, describing them as "unacceptable."

In a statement issued last month, Russia's national judo federation said its athletes would decline to compete.

"Until the very end, we had hoped that common sense and a desire to hold full-fledged Olympic Games with athletes from Russia and Belarus would prevail over political intrigues," the statement said.

Russia's weightlifting federation also issued a statement saying its athletes would not compete, despite qualifying for the Paris Games.

This is the smallest Russian involvement in the Summer Olympics since 1984, when Moscow boycotted the Los Angeles Games entirely.

Belarus, one of Russia's closest allies, will also send far fewer athletes to Paris, down from 101 in 2021 to just 17 this summer.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, once used the Olympic movement to burnish his country's reputation, hosting the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. Plagued by doping scandals and accusations of war crimes, Russia and its athletes play a dwindling role in world sport. Mikhail Klimentyev/AP hide caption

Russia's role in the Olympic movement peaked in 2014, when President Vladimir Putin proudly welcomed the world to Sochi for the Winter Games.

Putin's government spent tens of billions of dollars hosting the Games, which were designed to showcase Russia's progress after the fall of the Soviet Union.

At the time, Russia was also a major financial sponsor of the IOC.

But in the months following the Sochi Games, journalists uncovered a deeply entrenched Russian doping system.

Investigators described the widespread use of performance enhancing drugs as an "institutional conspiracy" involving more than 1,000 athletes.

In 2017, Russia was suspended from the Olympics by the IOC.

That means Russian athletes can only compete as "individual neutral athletes," without flying the Russian flag or playing the national anthem.

At the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, Russia suffered another black eye when it was revealed star figure skater Kamila Valieva had tested positive for a performance enhancing drug.

Last year, the IOC took a further step to punish Moscow, banning the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) from all international sports activities.

That move followed the ROC's decision to absorb sports clubs in regions of eastern Ukraine Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia occupied by Russia's invading army.

Last week, a human rights group called Global Rights Compliance issued a report suggesting that as many as two-thirds of Russian athletes who qualified for the Paris Games had violated the IOC's neutrality rules by supporting the Ukraine war.

The IOC is turning a blind eye to the involvement of Russian and Belarusian athletes who have demonstrated their support for Russias illegal invasion of Ukraine," said Wayne Jordash, the organization's president.

It's unclear, however, how many of the 57 Russian and Belarussian athletes named in the report will actually compete in Paris.

Read more here:

Facing scandal and condemnation, Russia fields tiny Olympic team in Paris - NPR

1. Russia claims it intercepted US fighter jets over the Arctic  Al Jazeera English
2. Russia says it scrambled fighter jets to intercept 2 US B-52H bombers  Business Insider
3. NATO Ally Responds to US Air Force's Close Brush With Russian Jets  Newsweek

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Russia claims it intercepted US fighter jets over the Arctic - Al Jazeera English

Russia has unveiled a comprehensive roadmap for building its newest space station and associated Earth-based infrastructure, with the first modules expected to launch within three years.

On July 2, the leadership of Russia's space agency Roscosmos described their upcoming to create the nation's newest space station, currently known as the Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS), according to Russian news agency TASS.

The first module of the X-shaped outpost, a research and power node, is expected to be launched into a near-polar orbit in 2027, TASS reported. By 2030, it plans to have docked its four major modules, with two "special-purpose" modules scheduled for attachment by 2033. Roscosmos plans to send the first cosmonauts to the station in 2028 and has suggested the station can be operated without crew.

The Russian Orbital Service Station would orbit at the same altitude as the International Space Station, around 250 miles (400 km) above Earth, in a polar, sun-synchronous orbit. The route is particularly useful for observing the entire surface of the planet, according to Roscosmos, and also provides a valuable view over "the strategically important Northern Sea Route". The estimated cost is about $7 billion USD.

The schedule for building ROSS also depends on the success of the next-generation heavy-lift Angara A5 rocket, which has had three successful orbital flight tests since 2014, and a partial failure in 2021.

Its construction is also likely to contain a first: Russia is riding the AI hype rocket, it seems.

"Artificial intelligence is quickly developing technology." said Vladimir Kozhevnikov, chief designer of ROS, on July 2, according to a report by TASS. "We will use its support but basically we will use our brains, of course," What form this AI takes is unknown will ChatGPT get a building credit on ROSS modules?

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

Another chief designer, Vladimir Solovyov of space rocket company Energia, has suggested there will be "unusual" goals for ROSS, with the space station providing guidance for a fleet of satellites a first.

"This fleet will fly near the station [] this, too, will imply brand-new tasks for mission control as no one has ever endeavored to do so," Solovyov said.

Russia has been a principal member of the International Space Station since launch, alongside NASA, the European Space Agency, JAXA and the Canadian Space Agency. For its new station, it's looking at partnerships with Brazil, India, China and South Africa, in addition to other African countries.

Back in 2021, Roscosmos signaled its intention to build its own space lab, a successor to its Mir space station. In mid-2022, after the invasion of Ukraine and heightened tensions between Russia and other Western countries, Roscosmos announced it would leave the ISS program 'after 2024.' It has since announced it will remain on the ISS until 2028.

Though the timeline for departing the ISS remains uncertain, the schedule signals the Russian space agency's intent to advance its own interests and focus on security and scientific development Roscosmos believes has been hindered due to international agreements on the ISS.

The ISS is expected to undergo a planned deorbit in 2030, but may remain in operation until commercial stations have been built.

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Russia unveils timeline for building its new space station, starting in 2027 - Space.com

The U.S., which has supported Kyiv with military, energy and humanitarian aid since Russia's February 2022 invasion, struggled late last year to pass aid packages in Congress because some Republican lawmakers refused to vote in favor. The impasse broke in April as lawmakers approved $61 billion in support.

If current Vice President Kamala Harris whom Biden endorsed for the Democratic nomination becomes president, she is broadly expected to continue many of Biden's foreign policy objectives, including aid to Ukraine.

Republican nominee Donald Trump, conversely, has pledged he would cut Ukraine aid if he is re-elected and would force Kyiv to agree a peace deal with Russia and cede land the Kremlin has claimed as its own. His pick for running mate, JD Vance, is also vehemently against continuing support for Ukraine and played a key role in trying to kill off a Ukraine aid bill earlier this year.

Responding to Biden's quitting the ticket, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia is following developments in the U.S., and that its priority is to continue its war against Ukraine.

The [U.S.] election is still four months away. And thats a long time, during which a lot can change. We need to pay attention, follow what will happen next, Dmitry Peskovtoldthe Telegram news channel Shot.

The priority for us is the special military operation, not the election results in the United States.

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Breath bated, Russia and Ukraine monitor US as Biden withdraws from race - POLITICO Europe

Mortgages used to be a tough sell in Russia. Decades of Soviet propaganda, which denounced credit as an unbearable burden, had an effect. Even after the end of communism, Russians still referred to mortgages as debt slavery, preferring to save until they could buy their homes outright. Vladimir Putin, the countrys president, has spent two decades trying to convince his citizens to take a different view. In 2003, during his first term, he explained that mortgages might help solve the acute problem of housing facing Russians. His plea fell on deaf ears.

He is now having more successand all it took was a heavy dose of statism, as well as the invasion of a peaceful neighbour. Over the past few years, the number of Russians taking out mortgages has soared, owing to a generous programme of state subsidies for buyers of new-builds. Mr Putin may have got more than he bargained for, however. The states subsidy binge has stoked an ultra-hot property market, sending house prices soaring. As such, the Kremlin has found itself picking up a giant and fast-growing bill.

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How Vladimir Putin created a housing bubble - The Economist