World Cup proves Russia cannot be “imprisoned” by Western sanctions

Russian President Vladimir Putin at Luzhniki Stadium, Russia. Photo: AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to hold a summit with his US counterpart Donald Trump, with little hope of ending Western sanctions. For that reason, hosting the World Cup this month is a welcome moment that will capture global attention.

In President Putin's eyes, hosting the World Cup sends a challenging message to the world and his own people that Moscow is succeeding despite Western plots to hinder Russia's development.

“For Putin, hosting the World Cup proves that sanctions have failed and Western attempts to isolate him have failed,” said Professor Sergei Medvedev of the Moscow School of Economics, referring to Western sanctions first imposed on Russia after it annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

“Despite all this, (his position) is that we still have Crimea, we are still pursuing our agenda, and now we see people coming to the World Cup,” Professor Medvedev said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to hold a summit with his US counterpart Donald Trump. Photo: Getty

Meanwhile, an unnamed senior Russian government official said the World Cup was the latest in a series of events that showed the West's efforts to isolate Russia were being broken.

Last month, speaking to reporters, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova asserted: “The stronger the anti-Russian campaign before the World Cup, the more people will be surprised when they see there is no 'barbed wire' in the stadium.”

However, expert Andrei Kolesniov from the Carnegie Moscow Center said: "The World Cup will not have any significant impact on Russia's image, because it is too toxic."

Mr. Kolesnikov cited the example of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, arguing that the event had almost no impact on improving the image of the former Soviet Union, which had invaded Afghanistan a year earlier.

Many believe that Mr. Putin sacrificed the political benefits that Russia gained from hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics by annexing Crimea afterward. And some critics also fear that the same will happen after the World Cup./.