With the Sochi Olympics at an end, and the host-country Russia earning the most medals (33 to the US’s 29), President Vladimir Putin’s ploy is complete. Russia has been exonerated, it’s international appeal increased, and its president’s power fully flexed.

Russia has committed numerous transgressions towards the international community. From harboring Edward Snowden, strong-arming Ukraine, and supporting the anti-revolutionary government of war-torn Syria (alongside the likes of Iran and China), the semi-democratic state of Russia has continually fought the western world on many different fronts. While the Olympics, and Russia’s stance on the LGBT community comes no where near these dilemmas, Russia (namely President Putin) is using the $48 billion dollar Olympics to get the former USSR viewed in a context and lens that it normally isn’t. Russia’s stance on these events, often contradictory to the United States and England, is quite problematic. Putin’s Russia is anti-American, supporting Snowden, Syria, Iran, and attacking (politically) Ukraine. The Olympic Games are supposed to transcend the world’s problems, not be a pawn to divert attention from them. Russia has used the Olympic Games to divert attention away from their recent violations. The conversations about Russia today are about how beautiful the scenery is; how fantastic the Games were; how hospitable Russia is. Meanwhile, there are breadlines; 100-plus strong filled with people waiting for rations barely enough to feed themselves, let alone their families. We cannot let Russia use the pretext of the Olympics to cover-up such issues.

President Vladimir Putin was elected in 2012. He previously served as president of Russia from 2000-2008. The idea behind Russia hosting the Olympic Games, according to most political analysts, was so Putin could display his power. Only Putin, Time Magazine’s Most Powerful Man in the World, could mobilize $48(to 52) million dollars and build not only a stadium, but a community around it. Putin mobilized billions of dollars, and he did so in a weak Russian economy. Only Russia could have had the audacity and ability to pull something like that off; and that’s because of Putin.