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Mid-May 2022: talks, warnings and neutral athletes
Summary
A look back at three diplomatic and political signals from the days around 17 May 2022, as the war in Ukraine shaped relations well beyond the front line.
What did the politics of the war look like on 17 May 2022? Not a single breakthrough, but a cluster of signals from the days around it, each showing how the invasion was reshaping contacts between Russia and the wider world.
A rare conversation
On 13 May 2022, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin held talks with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. It was the first meeting between the two since the start of the invasion, and it marked a resumption of direct military-level contact between Washington and Moscow.
A warning over NATO
On 16 May 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to the prospect of NATO enlargement involving Sweden and Finland. He warned that Russia would react to the "expansion of military infrastructure" by the alliance in those countries. Problems, he said, were being created for no reason at all, and Russia would react accordingly.
Sport and the boycott
The fallout reached sport as well. On 12 May 2022, it was announced that tennis players from Russia and Belarus would be allowed to compete at the upcoming French Open as neutral athletes. Players who spoke in support of Putin, however, would face sanctions.
Taken together, these reports from the days leading up to 17 May 2022 show three tracks running in parallel: a limited channel between defence chiefs, a hardening public line from the Russian president on NATO, and a compromise in sport that restricted participation under conditions rather than banning it outright.
