Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has welcomed a decision by the International Weightlifting Federation to stage the 2030 World Weightlifting Championships in the Russian capital Moscow.
The decision marks the first time since 2022 that Russia has been selected to host a world championship in any Olympic sport.
Speaking to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, Peskov said the Kremlin firmly welcomed the move, describing it as an important step toward the depoliticisation of global sport.
The presidential press secretary said Russia must return as a full member of the global sports family, adding that the international sporting community cannot function properly without Russian participation.
International Sanctions Since 2022
The decision by the International Weightlifting Federation ends a multi-year freeze on staging top-tier Olympic events in the country. Following the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022, the International Olympic Committee called on all international sports federations to cancel events planned in Russia and Belarus.
Most governing bodies complied with the recommendation, moving major events such as the 2022 UEFA Champions League final, the World Men's Volleyball Championship and multiple world cup stages away from Russian cities. Russian teams and athletes were also widely suspended from competition.
While the International Olympic Committee later created a framework allowing individual athletes to compete under a neutral flag without national anthems or symbols, international federations continued to withhold hosting rights for global events. The award of the 2030 weightlifting tournament represents the first major breakthrough for Moscow in securing a world-level Olympic competition since those restrictions took effect.
Moscow Weightlifting History
Moscow previously staged the World Weightlifting Championships on three occasions, having hosted the tournament in 1975, 1980 and 1983.
The 1980 event was held as part of the Moscow Summer Olympic Games, while the 1975 and 1983 tournaments were standalone world championships held in the city during the Soviet era. The Russian capital has a long association with heavy athletics and features multiple major indoor arenas capable of staging international lifting competitions.
The World Weightlifting Championships serve as the flagship annual tournament for the International Weightlifting Federation outside of Olympic years. The competition tests athletes across two disciplines, the snatch and the clean and jerk, awarding medals for each discipline alongside an overall total across multiple weight categories for men and women.
Russian Reintegration into Global Sport
The International Weightlifting Federation, the governing body founded in 1905 and based in Lausanne, Switzerland, manages the sport worldwide and sets the international competition schedule. The federation has not yet published specific dates or a venue selection within Moscow for the 2030 tournament.
Russian sporting bodies have consistently campaigned for a return to regular international hosting, arguing that global sport loses competitive value when Russian venues and competitors are sidelined. The awarding of the 2030 event marks a tangible step toward that goal, giving Moscow its first confirmed Olympic world championship for the decade ahead.
