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For Putin, World Cup is about legacy

This article is more than 12 months old

Through the tournament, Russian president hopes to show that his nation is a major power and attempts to isolate it are failing

The World Cup kicked off in Russia last Thursday in Moscow and President Vladimir Putin is determined that the tournament will enhance the nation's reputation and be part of his political legacy.

Key controversies and risks surround the tournament, though.

As with the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014, Mr Putin has overseen massive investment in infrastructure for the World Cup, with an estimated US$11 billion (S$15 billion) spent on stadiums, and upgrades to airports and transit in 11 Russian cities.

This shows that infrastructure spending is a priority for Mr Putin, and the US$11 billion adds to the estimated US$51 billion spent on Sochi that made that Winter Olympics the most expensive winter games in history.

Hosting such events commands national prestige, as Mr Putin is well aware, but they also carry huge operating costs, plus wider political risks and controversies.

When Russia was awarded the World Cup hosting rights in 2010, it was not as politically and economically isolated from the West as it is today.

Today, Russia - post the 2014 annexation of Ukraine (which happened soon after the Sochi games) and subsequent tensions in Ukraine - is out of the Group of Eight, and it is dogged by a string of more recent controversies including its backing for the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria; its alleged involvement in the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England; and its presumed meddling in a series of elections, including the 2016 US presidential election.

After its annexation of Crimea in 2014, numerous senior politicians called for Fifa to review awarding to Russia the hosting of the World Cup, a 2010 decision that was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation after allegations of irregularities and corruption.

NEW SANCTIONS

Separately, in the wake of the recent chemical weapon attacks on the Scripals in England, Russia has been subject to new Western sanctions and diplomatic expulsions.

More than 60 members of the European Parliament have signed a letter calling on European Union leaders to back a British boycott of the tournament. It will mean no British ministers or diplomats will attend, to try to avoid Mr Putin basking in what British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said could be the glory of the World Cup in the same way as Adolf Hitler did at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

This stance mirrors the decision of world leaders in 2014, including then US President Barack Obama, to decline to attend the Sochi games, partly for human rights reasons including Russia's then new homosexuality law, which is still contentious.

In the diplomatic context, Mr Putin wishes to convey to a global audience that Russia remains a major power and Western attempts to sideline and isolate it are failing.

It is also clear he sees the hosting of the World Cup as a key part of his accomplishments.

Taken overall, significant risks and controversies remain for Russia in hosting the World Cup, but Mr Putin will to try to ride these out to see his international standing enhanced by a successful tournament.

If this happens, the tournament could prove a key moment in his attempts to build his political legacy while also consolidating domestic support for the remainder of his presidency.

The writer is an associate at LSE Ideas at the London School of Economics. This article appeared in The Business Times last Thursday

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