A hug, between the Ukrainian athlete Oleksandr Abramenko, and the Russian Llia Burov, at the Beijing Olympics, dissolves for a moment the tension that has been accumulating for weeks between Kiev and Moscow, and beyond in Europe and the United States, following the deployment of tens of thousands of Russian soldiers close to the Ukrainian borders. For the first time since the beginning of the Games, on February 4, a Ukrainian and a Russian athlete got on the same podium, the one for the men’s aerieal freestyle award ceremony. Abramenko won the silver medal, Ukraine’s first medal at these games, Chinese athlete Qi Guangpu, gold, and Russian Llia Burov bronze. Abramenko, like Qi, wrapped himself in the national flag on the podium. Burov was unable to do so, due to doping sanctions that require Russian athletes to compete under the auspices of the National Olympic Committee. But Abramenko and Burov, longtime friends, had their photograph taken not only waving goodbye, but also hugging and playful, despite the Ukrainian government explicitly asking its athletes to be caught next to Russian colleagues.