2022 Beijing Winter Olympics Kicks Off, Russian President Putin in Stands During Opening Ceremony

President Vladimir Putin attended the opening ceremony to the 2022 Winter Olympics today in Beijing. Putin was already in the country after attending a meeting with the country’s leader Xi Jinping. For the United States, a ‘record number’ of 177 athletes walked at the ceremony despite the Biden Administration’s boycott of the games in December as a statement against China’s ‘ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang.’ Seven torchbearers carried six torches in the final relay inside the arena, all the torchbearers were Chinese athletes born in sequential decades representing the 1950s through the 2000s. The Olympics will be going on for most of the month before concluding on February 20th.