Russia throws flamboyant Olympic party despite scandals

With flags, patriotic tunes and a troupe of cheerleaders, Russia wants to throw the biggest party at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Never mind that Russia's team must compete in neutral uniforms. Never mind that 45 Russian athletes were excluded from the games early Friday. In the Sports House on the Gangneung seafront, the doping scandals never happened.

Russian cheerleaders perform during the opening of the Sports House, set up to support the Russian delegation of the 2018 Winter Olympics, in Gangneung, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 9, 2018. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

The house opened Friday afternoon with rousing speeches from Russia's ambassador to South Korea and former Olympic champions. For them, Russia is now and forever a sports superpower.

"Russia is a full participant in the Olympic Games and Russia can show its sporting power," ambassador Alexander Timonin said. "We believe in our athletes, we are proud of them, and we hope that they can achieve their very best sporting results and bring glory to our great motherland."

The "Sports House" name may be bland, but it's definitely Russian inside. There is a traditional samovar of tea, a folk choir, even the dress in which figure skater Adelina Sotnikova won the gold medal in Sochi in 2014. One side of the hall is adorned with photographs of President Vladimir Putin meeting South Korean dignitaries.

Olympic champions of decades past sat in a VIP zone upstairs, overlooking a hall where Russian fans — and some local Russophiles — mingled around a buffet.

Russian cheerleaders perform during the opening of the Sports House, set up to support the Russian delegation of the 2018 Winter Olympics, in Gangneung, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 9, 2018. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

"It's great because there's a place where they're always waiting for you, where they're always happy to see you," said Dmitry Davydov, a fan from St. Petersburg who was wrapped in the national flag. "It's a little corner of Russia far from home."

Davydov arrived fresh from watching the officially-neutral "Olympic Athletes from Russia" compete in figure skating.

"My hands are red with clapping and I'm losing my voice," he said.

When Russian sports officials first rented the cavernous Aqua Wedding Hall for the Pyeongchang Olympics, they wanted to brand it the Russian Fans' House. Then the International Olympic Committee banned the Russian team from the games for doping, inviting only selected athletes to compete as neutral Olympians.

Russian officials flirted with hosting their own medal ceremonies for athletes in the house, but feared it could provoke the wrath of the IOC.

Fans of Russia cheer at the opening of the Sports House, set up to support the Russian delegation of the 2018 Winter Olympics, in Gangneung, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 9, 2018. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

They considered rebranding as the Red Machine House in tribute to great Soviet hockey teams of the Cold War era, but settled on the blander Sports House, run by a Russian sports development fund best known for regularly gifting luxury cars to Olympic medalists in Kremlin ceremonies.

There were no current Russian Olympians at the opening — 168 will compete in Pyeongchang — but organizers plan to host any medalists later for media events. The IOC didn't respond when asked if that complies with its rules.

For Tatiana Volosozhar, a figure skater who won gold for Russia in 2014, the house should be a beacon of hope for Russian athletes in tough circumstances.

"Everything's very joyful, though the events this morning weren't joyful for some Olympians," Volosozhar said. "But our athletes are here to compete and they have to win."

Russian girls stand next to photos of Russia's President Vladimir Putin during the opening of the Sports House, set up to support the Russian delegation of the 2018 Winter Olympics, in Gangneung, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 9, 2018. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Russian singers and cheerleaders perform during the opening of the Sports House, set up to support the Russian delegation of the 2018 Winter Olympics, in Gangneung, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 9, 2018. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

A girl looks at photos of Russia's president Vladimir Putin during the opening of the Sports House set up to support the Russian delegation of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 9, 2018. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Fans of Russia cheer at the opening of the Sports House, set up to support the Russian delegation of the 2018 Winter Olympics, in Gangneung, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 9, 2018. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian court on Friday ordered the detention of the country’s farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials assessed how they can recover lost battlefield momentum in the war against Russia.

Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled that Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days, but he was released after paying bail of 75 million hryvnias ($1.77 million), a statement said.

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects Solskyi headed an organized crime group that between 2017 and 2021 unlawfully obtained land worth 291 million hryvnias ($6.85 million) and attempted to obtain other land worth 190 million hryvnias ($4.47 million).

Ukraine is trying to root out corruption that has long dogged the country. A dragnet over the past two years has seen Ukraine’s defense minister, top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials lose their jobs.

That has caused embarrassment and unease as Ukraine receives tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to help fight Russia’s army, and the European Union and NATO have demanded widespread anti-graft measures before Kyiv can realize its ambition of joining the blocs.

In Ukraine's capital, doctors and ambulance crews evacuated patients from a children’s hospital on Friday after a video circulated online saying Russia planned to attack it.

Parents hefting bags of clothes, toys and food carried toddlers and led young children from the Kyiv City Children’s Hospital No. 1 on the outskirts of the city. Medics helped them into a fleet of waiting ambulances to be transported to other facilities.

In the video, a security official from Russian ally Belarus alleged that military personnel were based in the hospital. Kyiv city authorities said that the claim was “a lie and provocation.”

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that civic authorities were awaiting an assessment from security services before deciding when it was safe to reopen the hospital.

“We cannot risk the lives of our children,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold online talks Friday with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which has been the key international organization coordinating the delivery of weapons and other aid to Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said late Thursday that the meeting would discuss how to turn around Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield. The Kremlin’s forces have gained an edge over Kyiv’s army in recent months as Ukraine grappled with a shortage of ammunition and troops.

Russia, despite sustaining high losses, has been taking control of small settlements as part of its effort to drive deeper into eastern Ukraine after capturing the city of Avdiivka in February, the U.K. defense ministry said Friday.

It’s been slow going for the Kremlin’s troops in eastern Ukraine and is likely to stay that way, according to the Institute for the Study of War. However, the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar is vulnerable to the Russian onslaught, which is using glide bombs — powerful Soviet-era weapons that were originally unguided but have been retrofitted with a navigational targeting system — that obliterate targets.

“Russian forces do pose a credible threat of seizing Chasiv Yar, although they may not be able to do so rapidly,” the Washington-based think tank said late Thursday.

It added that Russian commanders are likely seeking to advance as much as possible before the arrival in the coming weeks and months of new U.S. military aid, which was held up for six months by political differences in Congress.

While that U.S. help wasn’t forthcoming, Ukraine’s European partners didn’t pick up the slack, according to German’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which tracks Ukraine support.

“The European aid in recent months is nowhere near enough to fill the gap left by the lack of U.S. assistance, particularly in the area of ammunition and artillery shells,” it said in a report Thursday.

Ukraine is making a broad effort to take back the initiative in the war after more than two years of fighting. It plans to manufacture more of its own weapons in the future, and is clamping down on young people avoiding conscription, though it will take time to process and train any new recruits.

Jill Lawless contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Ukrainian young acting student Gleb Batonskiy plays piano in a public park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)