Putin cancels "Friendship Games" analog of Olympics in Russia
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has canceled the World Friendship Games, which were announced for 2023.
According to Censor.NET, this was reported by the Russian service of Radio Liberty. The decree was published on the website of official legal acts of the Russian Federation.
It is specified that the sports tournament will not be held until a special order of the president, the document says.
Putin's decree states that the competition was canceled "in order to protect the rights of athletes." Putin ordered to transfer the proceeds from bookmakers to a new, yet-to-be-created fund to support sports in Russia.
As a reminder, Moscow announced the Friendship Games in June 2023 amid the suspension of Russian athletes from international competitions due to the full-scale war against Ukraine. The event promised to host thousands of athletes from different countries. In addition to the traditional Olympic disciplines, there were to be competitions in acrobatic rock 'n' roll, backgammon, and sports programming.
The competitions were to take place in Moscow and Yekaterinburg in the early fall of 2024. Then they were postponed to 2025. The athletes were promised 40 thousand dollars for winning, while the second and third places were valued at 30 and 20 thousand, respectively. It was planned to allocate 8.3 billion rubles ($83 million) for the games.
The tournament was strongly opposed by the International Olympic Committee and the international anti-doping agency WADA. Veronika Loginova, Director General of the Russian anti-doping agency RUSADA, told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency that accredited laboratories refused to accept the results of doping tests taken at the tournament.
The IOC urged athletes not to travel to Russia, calling the World Friendship Games a cynical attempt to politicize sport, and reminding that the Russian government "demonstrates complete disrespect for global anti-doping standards and the integrity of the competition."
