If Russia wants to return to international sports events such as the Olympics, it should take extreme measures such as dropping a “bomb in the centre of London,” an official has claimed.

In an interview with News.ru, Yelena Välbe, President of the Russian Cross Country Ski Federation, stated that the use of force could accelerate the process of reinstating Russian athletes in international competitions.

In response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian athletes have been suspended from multiple major international sporting events. This includes the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, where Russian athletes were banned from competing under their national flag by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Athletes were only permitted to compete under neutral status, without national symbols, and had to meet strict criteria, including disavowing any support for the war. Consequently many athletes switched nationalities to continue their careers.

However, according to Välbe, Russia could force its way back into sport through violence, and she was keen to portray Russia’s exclusion from international sports as part of a larger historical struggle between Russia and the rest of the world.

"It seems to me that if we had dropped a serious bomb in the centre of London, it would have been over by now, and we would have been allowed everywhere,” she said.

“Russia's struggle with the outside world has been going on for centuries. They never liked us, even when they pretended that they let us go everywhere, they still didn't like us… I love it when the country is strong, and, the irritation of the whole world probably lies in our strength.”

On September 29, the Norwegian outlet Expressen reported that Russian and Belarusian skiers will remain banned from international competitions for the 2024/25 season. The International Ski Federation (FIS) initially imposed the ban in March 2022 and extended it through the 2022/23 season last October.