This is by no means the most extreme anti-gay rights law existing worldwide - I was shocked to discover last week 40 out of 53 Commonwealth member nations have some sort of restrictive law - but the Olympic spotlight has illuminated the Russian case more than any other.

To a certain extent we must accept that countries are entitled to their own national laws and have different cultures and attitudes than us in the liberal West. Yet if you want international respect, as Putin so clearly does, you must take notice of international norms.

Despite the best attempts of some public figures, no country seriously considered a fully fledged boycott in protest against these laws. As Latvia's President Andris Berzins said last week, "Boycotts are a relic of the Cold War" and it is better to protest by attending rather than staying away.

The establishment of official protest zones which athletes and accredited officials are free to attend - for the first time ever after a change to Rule 50 of the IOC Charter - is a further endorsement of this view.

But this has not stopped international leaders invoking their own personal boycotts through a blend of devious and not-so-subtle means.

Vladimir Putin is unlikely to be joined by any of Angela Merkel, David Cameron, Barack Obama or François Hollande at Sochi 2014 ©Getty Images

First there was German President Joachim Gauck, who will stay away but refused to admit this was for reasons of protest. Then there was Francois Hollande and the rest of the French Government, who offered no explanation for their non-attendance.

As Belgian, Canadian, Georgian, Lithuanian and Moldovan leaders announced similar intentions, the torrent soon became a flood. Other countries have adopted a compromise position. With typical subterfuge the news that Britain's Helen Grant - who along with sport and tourism counts "equality" among her three Ministerial titles - will attend can be taken as an implicit acknowledgement that Prime Minister David Cameron will not.

Trust the United States to break any trend of subtlety. Not only will neither Barrack nor Michelle Obama nor vice-president Joe Biden attend, but the delegation will headed by two openly gay figures in former tennis player Billie Jean King and ice-hockey star Caitlin Cahow. Make that three openly gay figures, after figure skater Brian Boitano came out after being unveiled in the line-up.

Putin's response, with all the pragmatic magnanimity that he could muster, was to grant an amnesty to release a number of political prisoners, including two members of dissenting punk band Pussy Riot and 30 Greenpeace activists arrested for "hooliganism" after disrupting an Arctic oil drilling programme. Most notably the ex-oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky will also be pardoned after ten years behind bars.

Formerly Russia's richest man, Khodorkovskiy had the cheek to finance opposition groups and his arrest was therefore regarded as politically-motivated rather than for the "embezzlement, tax evasion and fraud" he supposedly committed.

With most of his wealth disappeared he is no longer considered a threat and, like the others to be released, it is a largely symbolic gesture with little concrete meaning. But considering international criticism over the Olympics has forced Putin to take action that he has resisted for a decade, it is quite some symbolic gesture.

For the Olympics are part of Putin's wider aim to highlight the international strength of Russia as well as himself.

The last year has been a largely successful one for Russian diplomacy. The decree banning chemical weapons in Syria, for example, was agreed only with Russian mediation to emphasise its key role in negotiating any global agreement. But on the other hand the growing instability on its Western border challenges this notion of strength.

In response to suggestions that Ukraine would sign an "Association Agreement" with the European Union Putin supposedly forced through an alternative deal, in Sochi of all places, to bring the ex-Soviet country back into the Russian fold. This has led to popular protests on the streets of Kyiv and the discontent is likely to rumble on for some time - with Lviv's 2022 Olympic bid deeming it another issue registering on the sporting radar.

Ongoing anti-Government protests in Ukraine is part of a wider power-battle between Russia and Europe ©Anadolu Agency/Getty Images



The economic sanctions imposed by Russia on Lithuania after the latter used its Presidency of the Council of the European Union - which rotates among members on a six month basis - to seek greater relations with Ukraine, underlines the awareness of this threat. And what was Lithuania's response to the sanctions? An Olympic boycott of course - after President Dalia Grybauskaitė confirmed she does "not see a political possibility of going to the Sochi Games".

So wider political relations, as well as human rights, are at stake ahead of Sochi 2014.

There is the possibility of all this being forgotten once the Games get underway. The protest zones will inevitably be placed well out of sight away from the action and a parallel can be drawn with Beijing where the success of the Games hid the political issues which clouded the build-up.

This is not guaranteed however.

Furthermore and without wishing in any way to tempt fate, the greatest political danger potentially comes not internationally but from dissidents within Russia. A released Canadian intelligence report last week highlighted the danger of Doku Umarov, a Chechnya-based warlord allegedly responsible for bombings on the Moscow metro and Domodedovo airport bombings in 2010 and 2011, who has called for attacks on the "Satanic Games" in Sochi. There is a real threat of a terrorist attack if not in Sochi then somewhere else in Russia during next year's event, and this risk is in danger of being lost amid the other issues.

The death of broadcaster David Coleman this weekend revived memories of the most infamous Olympic moment of all...the Munich 1972 hostage crisis ©Fairfax Media via Getty Images


This is a sombre note on which to end, but as Munich 1972 and Atlanta 1996 tragically highlighted, terrorism has impacted Olympic history as much as human rights and boycotts have.

There is indeed no form of politics which is impervious to influencing an Olympic Games and this is something my 16-year old self identified and has been something confirmed to me throughout my short time at insidethegames.

After this week it is something that Vladimir Putin will no doubt have realised as well.

Nick Butler is a reporter for insidethegames. To follow him on Twitter click here