Olympic Games? Why Russia is getting a political makeover just in time to host the Sochi Olympics.

• Author: Smith, Patricia
• Position: INTERNATIONAL - Essay

When the Winter Olympics this week in Sochi, visitors will see a more camera-friendly version of the Russia that President Vladimir Putin has ruled for 14 years.

Long criticized for his suppression of political dissent, Putin has spent the lead-up to the Games freeing thousands of political prisoners, including several high-profile ones. In December, he released Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a billionaire oil tycoon and longtime political opponent; Khodorkovsky was imprisoned for 10 years on embezzlement charges widely believed to have been politically motivated. A few days later, Putin freed two young women who were jailed in 2012 on charges of "hooliganism" after their punk band performed an anti-Putin protest song in a Moscow cathedral.

Last month, Putin eased a sweeping ban on public protests in Sochi. The ban had been sharply criticized by human rights groups and the International Olympic Committee.

"I think this is an attempt to improve the image of the current government a little before the Sochi Olympics," says Maria Alyokhina, one of the punk musicians.

The surprise clemencies don't seem to have impressed President Barack Obama. In a political statement against Russia's increasingly authoritarian government, Obama is skipping the Olympics opening ceremony. Also missing will be First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and all other living former U.S. presidents or vice presidents.

The diplomatic boycott is just one sign of how tense relations between the United States and Russia have become. This is not the first time the former Cold War adversaries have used the Olympics as a stage for their political disputes (see box, p. 8).

A lot of issues have contributed to the current tensions. Last summer, Russia offered political asylum to Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who leaked information about secret American surveillance programs and is wanted for espionage by U.S. authorities. The two countries have long been at loggerheads over the civil war in Syria. And a new Russian law banning gay "propaganda" is widely viewed as discrimination. (In protest, President Obama is including openly gay athletes like tennis player Billie Jean King and skater Brian Boitano in the official U.S. delegation.)

"We've been at these low points many times before, says Fiona Hill, a Russia expert at the Brookings Institution. "The U.S. and Russia are not natural partners, and when things go wrong, it's often quite difficult to...