Abstract: The subject of this research is the specificity of interaction of sports and politics; peculiarities of using major sports as the mechanism of the influence of politics upon people’s life in modern world and Russia. The correlation between sports and politics is typical for the entire history of mankind, but found the fullest expression during the establishment and development of the Olympic movement.  Currently, the interaction of sport and political spheres of society is peculiar to all sports and serves as a certain instrument of politics. The author comes to a conclusion that in the modern circumstances, the political neutrality (autonomy) with regard to sports represents a delicate mechanism of foreign and domestic policy of the country. The so-called policy of “soft power” is capable to effectively solve the tasks for establishing positive image of the country on the world stage, which is successfully applied by most of the countries.