2018 World Cup: Should I support Russia despite Putin?

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Alexander Ryumin

The historic victory of the World Cup against Spain has plunged much of Moscow into a celebration frenzy and produced a rare moment of national unity

but some Russians are still not convinced that they can support their national team

. Motivated Russians believe the Kremlin is using the World Cup to reinforce its prestige and divert criticism from its track record of human rights and assertive foreign policy.

In the opinion of a minority, supporting the national team is equivalent to helping this agenda. 19659007] "It's politics, just politics, only [Putin] is enjoying this football madness," opposition activist Alexander Osovtsov wrote on Facebook, repressing the allegations that which President Vladimir Putin would have "bought".

He added that those who now chanted "Russia! Russia!" are similar to those who did the same thing when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 or invaded Georgia in 2008.

Arkady Babchenko, the former anti-Kremlin war correspondent who recently stunned the world's media He had simulated his own death in Ukraine to help unveil a Kremlin-backed plot against his life.

On Facebook, he accuses opponents who have acclaimed Russia's victory "kissing the imperialist foam, under the same flag, united by joy to a shared victory."

Some have even refused to believe that Russia could beat Spain in a fair match. "Russia in the quarter-finals is a cause of non-celebration, but for investigation ", commented the prominent account Twitter Anonymous Ugolok Tsinika ("Cynic's Corner")

"Love his country is normal"

But such skepticism is not shared by most opponents and liberal Russians, including Alexei Navalny, a prominent anti-corruption activist and leader of the protest against the Kremlin.

In a series of excited tweets, he expresses his joy. Spain ("YESSSSS!") And call for the jokes the demonstrations calling the Russian goaltender Igor Akinfeev – who saved two criminal against Spain – to receive the Hero of Russia Medal.

            
                
                
                
                
                
                 

The ally of Mr. Navalny, Leonid Volkov, rejects "conspiracy theorists who so much fear the all-powerful Poutin that they believe that he can buy what can not be bought "

. anyone in high-level football trying to fix such a match would take a "terrible risk".

Another opposition activist, Ilya Yashin, expressed his anger at what he calls "online opinion leaders". "Russians have gone crazy for patriotism"

"Supporting your team at the World Cup is normal," he wrote. "It does not make you complicit in crimes committed by senior officials, love your country is normal, it does not require you to like the government and the president."

One of the biggest bloggers of Russia Ilya Varlamov called on people not to "confuse sport and politics, Russia and Putinism, the country and the state".

"Insult"

But some accuse the Kremlin of mixing sport and politics, citing remarks by Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov, comparing the celebrations of Russian supporters to those who followed the Soviet victory of Nazi Germany during the Second World War. [196] Mr. Peskov pointed out that he did not compare the victory to the sporting victory. closer, he does not divide them. "

But it was not enough for some." You can not imagine a bigger insult "in memory of those who fell into the war," writes journalist Arkady Dubnov.

Cover of the World Cup Russian State Media is a continuous loop of supporters The media were caught off guard from alarmists about Russia.

Government-controlled Channel One reports that Colombian supporters will be twice as likely as English fans in their team's last game at Moscow's Luzhniki stadium

. that the British media should be "ashamed of themselves for their clear propaganda".

This has been widely retweeted in Russia, including by Twitter accounts that bear the marks of being bots, and has been highlighted in a report controlled by the Kremlin.

But some commentators believe that the cheerful and festive nature of the World Cup could turn against the Kremlin.

They argue that contact with foreign supporters runs up against the feeling of being besieged by a naturally hostile West that has been cultivated in recent years.

"It turns out that we do not have enemies abroad," writes commentator Igor Nikolayev on the Ekho Moskvy independent radio website. "The World Cup destroys one of the most important foundations of the Russian government."