Socceroos ban from Russian World Cup ‘serves no strategic purpose’

An Australian boycott of the soccer World Cup would damage our national interests, Russia experts say.

Russian President Vladimir Putin. Picture: AP

An Australian boycott of the soccer World Cup would serve no strategic purpose and damage our national interests by severing one of our few “normal’’ channels of communication with the Putin regime at a time when there is growing risk of direct military conflict between Russia and Western powers, Russia experts say.

With the Russian problem dominating this week’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London, Russia’s status as the host nation for this year’s FIFA World Cup is a sore point for Western leaders.

Any further atrocities between now and the June kick-off are certain to prompt further calls for a boycott.

Alexey Muraviev, one of Australia’s foremost experts in Russian strategic affairs, said banning the Socceroos from competing at the World Cup finals would have no effect on Russia, prompt a negative backlash from Australian football fans and allow sport to be hijacked by geopolitics.

“In the current state of growing geopolitical tensions, sport remains one of the few vehicles where you can retain soft-power diplomacy and humanitarian links,’’ said Associate Professor Muraviev, the head of Curtin University’s Department of Social Sciences and Security Studies and a member of the Brussels-based Russia-NATO Experts Group.

“They are absolutely critical when we see the great powers, ­nuclear-armed superpowers, on a collision course.’’

Associate Professor Muraviev, who said Russia and the West came perilously close to direct conflict during last weekend’s missile strikes in Syria, also questioned the utility of Australia’s economic sanctions in place since Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.

Robert Horvath, a research fellow at Latrobe University who has written books about President Vladimir Putin and Russian nationalism, said Australia in its response to Russia needed to strike a balance between deterrence and avoidance of serious ­escalation.

Dr Horvath said any decision to boycott the World Cup — whether a full boycott or a more limited ban on government officials attending — would need to be carefully explained to prevent the Putin regime claiming it as evidence of Russophobia and using it for propaganda purposes.

Any effective action would need to target the Russian government and not the Russian people. “The most successful Western reactions to Russian abuses have been ones where there have been clear, loud voices from within Russian civil society and opposition circles supporting those measures,’’ he said.

He cited as an example the economic sanctions prompted by the 2008 arrest and subsequent death in custody of anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

Dr Horvath said Australia’s grievances with Russia were a cumulative build-up from the annexation of Crimea, the shooting down of Flight MH17, ongoing military and political support for the Assad regime and most recently, cyber attacks.