Russian Press Chief Calls Olympic Closing Ceremony 'Obvious Satanism'

Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman has criticized what she views as the religious overtones of the Paris closing ceremony, and "the obvious satanism" displayed during one scene in particular.

Maria Zakharova, who has led the press department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation since 2015, made the comments through her Telegram channel on Tuesday morning.

"The only thing worse than the opening of the Olympic Games in Paris could be their closing," Zakharova said, according to a translation. "France did not miss this chance."

The closing ceremony of the 2024 Games took place on Sunday, marking the end of the two-week sporting celebration.

Directed by Thomas Jolly, who also orchestrated the opening ceremony, the event featured light shows, musical guests and a Mission: Impossible-style rappel stunt by Tom Cruise, who took the Olympic flag from Simone Biles before riding out the stadium on a motorcycle.

However, Zakharova's disapproval was aimed at the "Golden Voyager" performance, in which a figure clad in golden armor and a spiked headdress descended from the stadium roof, encountering a headless winged angel and an astronaut, before being raised upward by a group of performers dressed in white bodysuits.

"Thank you for your honesty. No veil, halftones or hints," Zakharova said. "Everything is in plain text: a fallen angel turns people into zombies, subjugates humanity to his will, which has less and less time left."

The politician said she read articles and reviews of the ceremony, and none of these denied the performance's religious connotations.

"It never occurred to anyone to put forward the favorite argument 'you're all lying' in response to such obvious Satanism," Zakharova wrote, according to translation. "Timid attempts to evaluate the 'ceremony' from the point of view of theatrical art and directing large mass events, without realizing the main thing, were drowned in the groans of those who saw the light."

According to The Associated Press, the director of the ceremony intended for the golden character to represent the Voyager Golden Record, a gold-plated vinyl launched aboard the Voyager spacecraft in 1977, which contains sounds and images NASA says would portray the "the diversity of life and culture on Earth" to extraterrestrials.

When contacted for comment on Zarakhova's remarks, the Paris 2024 Olympics organizing committee told Newsweek that the Golden Voyager segment was inspired by "a number of references from France's historical heritage," "creatures from science fiction and video games," as well as the 1977 Voyager Golden Record, the blank vinyls for which were made in the country.

Russian athletes, along with those from Belarus, were barred from competing in the Paris Olympics under their countries' flags, a response from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

While athletes were permitted to compete under a neutral flag, the IOC's decision drew the ire of Russia's leaders, with President Vladimir Putin calling it a form of "ethnic discrimination."

Zakharova previously criticized the opening of the Paris Games.

"I wasn't planning on watching the opening," she wrote on Telegram on July 27, according to translation. "But when I saw the photo, I couldn't believe it wasn't a deepfake or photoshop."

Taking aim at the ceremony's organizers, Zakharova called the now-infamous feast tableau "an LGBT mockery of a sacred Christian story."

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