The Russian dictator’s favorite sport opens the door to political influence

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Putin has a long-standing connection to this martial art, and the International Judo Federation has emerged as a primary force pushing for the return of Russian athletes to competition.

As the Los Angeles Summer Olympics approach, Russia is intensifying efforts to secure the return of its athletes to international competition—a trend most visible in the favorite sport of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin: judo, reports Politico.

Judo serves as a key arena for Moscow’s reentry into the international sporting landscape. Putin has a long-standing connection to this martial art, and the International Judo Federation (IJF) has emerged as a primary force pushing for the return of Russian athletes to competition. Since 2007, when Austrian-Romanian official Marius Vizer took the helm of the IJF, he has transformed the sport into an international commercial product. Critics, however, argue that Vizer has cultivated a network linked to Putin and the interests of the Russian elite, all while maintaining the facade of a neutral administrator.

Vitalii Dubrova, head coach of the Ukrainian Judo Federation, noted that given how Vizer has promoted Russians—repeatedly emphasizing their value to the IJF—it is clear that he harbors his own interests and connections within Russia, where Russian influence appears to be pervasive.

The IJF did not respond to a request from Politico for comment regarding Vizer’s ties to Russia.

Although the IJF offered solidarity funding to Ukraine in 2022 and introduced individual vetting for Russian and Belarusian athletes in 2023,

This highlights Moscow’s strategy of using sport as a means to return to the international stage—ranging from participation in competitions to efforts to secure a return to the 2028 Olympic Games, a goal that receives indirect, tacit support from International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry.

These developments have sounded alarm bells in Brussels, with European Union officials floating various proposals—from imposing sanctions on individual athletes to cutting funding for sports organizations that advocate for Russia’s return to competition.

Even as the Kremlin’s aggression in Ukraine continues, Russia has managed to maintain its standing within international sports federations, including those for chess, fencing, and boxing. Moscow has found platforms from which to propagate a soft power narrative—a development that concerns Kyiv and European officials, who have pointed out that sports are increasingly becoming a political instrument for Russia and Belarus.

Dubrova stated that Russia uses propaganda to promote the idea that sport is separate from politics, while money and influence help Moscow regain its place in the international sporting arena.

The mutually beneficial relationship between the Russian elite and the international judo community dates back long before Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Under Putin’s leadership, judo has evolved into a network and a system of loyalty that brings together high-ranking Russian politicians and businesspeople. Some of Putin’s closest allies are long-time friends from the Leningrad judo circles of the 1960s–1980s—a group one analyst in 2014 dubbed a "judo brotherhood," or "judocracy."

The influence of this "judocracy" has extended well beyond the realm of sport. Putin’s childhood training partners, brothers Arkady and Boris Rotenberg, have built vast construction and infrastructure empires in Russia, fueled by major state contracts. Their projects included the Crimean Bridge—an endeavor Ukraine views as an illegal attempt to connect the Russian mainland to the occupied peninsula in the Black Sea.

Putin remains the honorary president, while Arkady Rotenberg served as a member of the IJF Executive Committee from 2013 to 2022.

Vizer became president of the Romanian Judo Federation in 1995, led the European Judo Union from 2000 to 2007, and has headed the IJF since 2007. Georgii Zantaraia—a former Georgian-Ukrainian judoka who chairs the Athletes' Commission of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine—noted that Vizer and the Rotenbergs are, of course, acquainted. Putin has served as an honorary president of the IJF, and Vizer is part of that structure.

Vizer’s influence became particularly evident in 2019, when world champion Saeid Mollaei revealed that Iranian officials had pressured him to withdraw from the World Judo Championships to avoid a match against Israeli judoka Sagi Muki. The IJF suspended Iran, and after Mollaei left the country, the federation helped him continue his career. That same year, Vizer’s ties to Putin—who visited Budapest alongside him—came under scrutiny. Putin held an informal meeting with Vizer and IJF Honorary President Sándor Csányi, symbolically demonstrating his privileged position within Vizer’s international judo network.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine,

—a stance that critics interpret as tacit support for Moscow’s aggression. Although many Russian athletes are also members of the armed forces, Vizer has maintained, through the IJF, that athletes should not be held responsible for the actions of their government. In March 2022, as Russian forces were attempting to capture Kyiv, the IJF declared that, since sports and competitions promote peace and global solidarity, athletes participating in international events should be considered supporters of peace. Consequently, the federation argued that imposing sanctions on all Russian athletes was unjustified, asserting that athletes cannot be held to blame for the unfolding events.

With the war in Ukraine now in its fourth and a half year, representatives of Ukrainian athletes argue that the return of Russian athletes and their national flag serves to normalize Moscow’s aggression. Dubrova pointed out that, for Russia, the return of the flag is of particular importance. In July, Ukrainian Sports Minister Matviy Bidnyi told Politico that Russia uses the IOC as a pressure-relief valve.

The IOC, for its part, noted that the international federation for each sport is responsible for deciding whether to allow Russians to compete under the Russian flag in international events outside of the Olympic Games, and that only the IJF itself could provide further comment.