With the World Cup underway in Russia, the host country is naturally enjoying a lot of international attention. Conspicuously absent from that coverage, however, are Moscow's many transgressions since it won the bid in 2010 to host. The Russia of 2018 probably wouldn't even get the chance.
Russia won the bid on June 8, 2010, three days before the World Cup kicked off in South Africa. Back then, things were different.
To start, Russia annexed Crimea in March 2014 while the Sochi Winter Olympics provided a distraction.
Russia instigated a war in Donbas, Ukraine. Four years later, the war continues, having claimed more than 10,000 lives.
A year later, in 2015, Russia decided to support Syrian President Bashar Assad and launched air strikes in his country.
Then this year, Russia committed a crime against the United Kingdom, and relations with both the UK and U.S. deteriorated. In March, a former Russian double agent and his daughter were poisoned with Novichok, a Soviet-era nerve agent.
Russia also has persecuted opposition figures within its own borders. These persecutions range from the Polonium poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko to the blatant murder of Boris Nemtsov and the multiple imprisonments of Aleksei Navalny. Moscow will do whatever is necessary to rid itself of these and many other foes of the Kremlin.
Circumstances on the domestic front have also changed since 2010. For one, the Russian people have suffered under the Putin regime, whether they realize it or not. Putin and his cronies steal more from Russians' paychecks each year for their personal use, exhibited in their superfluous and ostentatious estates and palaces.
Additionally, the pursuit of democracy is under constant threat. Elections are rigged. Bribes and ballot-stuffing are prevalent, and Putin allows no true opposition candidates to run against him.
Russia has also dealt with the Olympics doping scandal this past year, which resulted in its athletes being forced to compete under the neutral Olympics flag rather than the Russian flag.
Much has changed since 2010. If the decision for Russia to host the World Cup had been made this past year, FIFA likely would not have granted it the honor. Russia needs to change its actions for the better--for the sake of its own citizens, as well as many others around the globe.
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Alexis Mrachek is a researcher in Russian and Eurasian issues in the Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation.
Editorial on 06/22/2018