Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 2nd European Games, the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko suggested that all arguments between the countries should be transferred to sports arenas, turning them into fancy shows. Yevgeny Zadrutsky, an analyst at the Belarusian Institute of Strategic Research, spoke on Sputnik Radio on what the phenomenon of sports diplomacy is and whether it has sufficient resources to truly influence the solution of foreign policy problems.
"Sports diplomacy is a new, recently emerged foreign policy tool, and it has great potential for development. Of course, sports diplomacy cannot solve all international problems, but sometimes sport becomes a preface to a very sharp turn in the strategy of a particular state. This brings China to mind – their "ping-pong" diplomacy, when a delegation from the United States came to the country which was closed at that time, and this became the reason for a sharp change in relations between the two countries and a preface to the Chinese economic miracle", Zadrutsky argues.