Ah, and there is one more thing that should be done, though it is out of the hands of the US government. Put pressure to have Russian sportsmen restricted from international competition. In particular, what would be very effective, is expelling Russia from the UEFA - right now, before the World Cup (while FIFA as a whole might resist, UEFA should be an easier sell - there are quite a few federations there, which are going to be very sympathetic). Canceling the Russian World Cup in four years time would be great as well - if it could be done (make it clear to the FIFA bureaucrats that otherwise there would be a major boycott).
But here US government could only exert pressure, not act by itself.
Yeah, punish a bunch of soccer players. Not like politicizing international sports hasn't backfired before. That'll show Russia.
