PARIS (AFP, REUTERS) - Russia hosting the 2018 World Cup, the scandal-plagued 2014 Winter Olympics and Gazprom's sponsorship of European football's Champions League were powerful tools for the country's global image and gained Vladimir Putin prestige amongst the Russian population.
However, the Russian president's decision to invade Ukraine has resulted in destroying the warm global afterglow and experts believe it could cost him dearly internally.
St Petersburg has already been stripped of hosting this year's Champions League final with Gazprom's reported €40 million (S$60.66 million) a year sponsorship deal with Uefa also in doubt.
German team Schalke 04 said on Monday (Feb 28) they were cancelling their partnership with the Russian gas giant ahead of schedule.
“Management and the supervisory board are in discussions with representatives of the current main sponsor, further information will be published in due course,” Schalke said on Twitter.
The decision does not affect the club’s financial capabilities, Schalke, who currently play in the German second tier following relegation from the Bundesliga in the 2020-21 season, added in a statement.
The club had already said last Thursday they were removing the logo of Gazprom from their jerseys following the invasion.
Also on Monday, badminton’s world governing body said it has cancelled all sanctioned tournaments in Russia and Belarus.
Russian and Belarusian national flags must not be displayed and their national anthems not played at any Badminton World Federation (BWF) events. No other badminton tournaments will be allocated to Russia or Belarus until further notice.
“BWF will continue to monitor the situation closely and will proactively consult our international sport movement partners to discuss other options to potentially strengthen measures against the governments of Russia and Belarus,” it said in a statement.
The governing body said it fully supported the International Olympic Committee urging sports federations to move or cancel sports events planned in Russia or Belarus.
“BWF stands in full solidarity with the entire international sports movement to call on all parties to stop acts of violence and to restore peace,” it added.
The Russian Formula One Grand Prix has been cancelled and there are calls for the country's football team to be expelled from the 2022 World Cup play-offs.
Football’s governing body Fifa said on Sunday that no international soccer matches will be played in Russia and the Russian flag and anthem will be banned from the team’s matches abroad.
"Sport has always had a tremendous impact on society," Michael Payne, former head of marketing at the International Olympic Committee (IOC), told AFP.
"The South African sports boycott over apartheid probably had as much or greater impact than economic sanctions, over forcing regime policy change."
For Hugh Robertson, chairman of the British Olympic Association (BOA), a blanket sports ban could affect Mr Putin's standing domestically.
"Sport is disproportionately important to absolutist regimes," he told AFP. "The potential inability to compete would hit Russia hard."
Payne, who in nearly two decades at the IOC was widely credited with transforming its brand and finances through sponsorship, said Mr Putin risked his standing with his own people.
"Putin may not care what the rest of the world thinks of him, but he has to care what the Russian people think of him," said the Irishman. "Lose their support and it is game over - and the actions of the sports community has the potential to be a very important influencer towards the Russian people."
'A greater good'
Prominent Russian sports stars have not been shy in voicing their disquiet over the invasion.
Andrey Rublev, who won the Dubai ATP title on Saturday, veteran Russian football international Fedor Smolov, United States-based ice hockey great Alex Ovechkin and cyclist Pavel Sivakov, who rides for the Ineos team, have all expressed a desire for peace.
"Russian athletes speaking out to their national fan base, will only serve to further prompt the local population to question the actions of their leadership, and undermine the local national support for the war," said Payne.
However, another former IOC marketing executive Terrence Burns, who since leaving the organisation has played a key role in five successful Olympic bid city campaigns, has doubts about their impact.
"You are making the assumption that Russian people actually see, read, and hear 'real news'," he told AFP.
"I do not believe that is the case. The Government will portray Russia as a victim of a great global conspiracy led by the USA and the West.
"It is an old Russian trope they have used quite effectively since the Soviet days."
Burns says the athletes must also be punished for their government's aggression.
"I believe that Russia must pay the price for what it has done," he said. "Sadly, that has to include her athletes as well.
"Many people, like me, believed that by helping them host the Olympics and World Cup could somehow open and liberalise the society, creating new paths of progress for Russia's young people.
"Again, we were wrong."
Robertson too says allowing Russians to compete when Ukrainians are unable to due to the conflict is "morally inconceivable".
Payne says individual sports have to look at a bigger moral picture than their own potential losses over cutting Russian sponsorship contracts.
"The sports world risks losing far more by not reacting, than the loss of one or two Russian sponsors."
Former British lawmaker Robertson, who as Minister for Sport and the Olympics delivered the highly successful 2012 London Games, agrees.
"The sporting world may have to wean itself off Russian money," said the 59-year-old. "Over the past few days, it has become apparent that political, economic and trade sanctions will hurt the West as well as Russia but this is a price that we will have to pay to achieve a greater good."
For Robertson, sport cannot stand idly by in response to Russia's invasion.
"The Russian invasion of Ukraine will impact sport but the consequences of inaction, or prevarication, will be far more serious."
