SOCHI, February 15 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin urged foreign journalists not to mix sport with politics in a trademark sarcastic quip at the Sochi Olympics on Saturday.
The remark was made in response to a question from a foreign journalist about whether a perceived liberalization ahead of the Games – a reference to the release from jail of several high-profile prisoners – meant there was “hope for Russia.”
“There is hope that you will never link sport with politics. Is there such hope? I think so,” said Putin.
Russia came under fire ahead of the Winter Olympic Games, which opened February 7 in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, in particular over a law introduced last year banning the “promotion of non-traditional sexual relations to minors.” Human rights activists around the world have slammed the law for discriminating against the LGBT community.
Putin was speaking to journalists in the Olympic Village ahead of attending a much-anticipated hockey match between Russia and the United States.
The Russian president is known for his sarcastic retorts. When asked by US TV interviewer Larry King what happened to the Kursk submarine, which killed 118 Russian sailors when it sank in 2000, Putin answered laconically, with a faint smile, “It sank.”
In 2002, he said he could arrange for a French journalist to visit Moscow to be circumcised in response to a question criticizing Russia’s military campaign in its southern republic of Chechnya.
