Russia’s pariah status in sports and art may be weakening.
Russian athletes are competing in the Winter Paralympics, with one alpine skier taking the country’s first gold since 2014; they were banned in 2018 over doping allegations, and then from almost all sporting events after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but Moscow won a legal appeal in January.
Russian artists are also staging a comeback at the Venice Biennale in May after skipping two previous editions. Organizers seem to have given tacit approval to their return, with Artnet suggesting the shift in stance follows the appointment of a right-wing journalist as Biennale president. The EU has threatened to pull its funding from the event over Russia’s participation.