Winston Churchill, speaking to the nation during the dreadful autumn of 1939, memorably described Russia's action as "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma."

On Thursday evening, in the very room of the Russian Ambassador's official Kensington residence where the wartime Prime Minister was wont to sit and discuss events after the Soviet Union had joined the Allies in 1941, another action of Russia's became, as my old headmaster would have said, absolutely crystal clear.

And just as Churchill had suggested in his radio speech, the key to it was Russian national interest – although in this case, thankfully, within a sporting context.

Standing beneath a chandelier after the official launch of Team Russia Park – the Olympic venue for athletes and officials which will be sited within a discus throw of the Ambassador's UK base - Ahmed Bilalov, vice-president of the Russian Olympic Committee offered some compelling reasons for raised levels of national confidence at the London 2012 Games.

One million compelling reasons, in fact.

Pressed by the press on how Russia - which finished only four golds ahead of Britain at the 2008 Games and only 11th in the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games table, just four years before it was due to host the Sochi Games - was planning to smarten up its act, he made it clear that gold medallists could count on an additional tangible reward of around $1 million (£652,000/€788,000) each.

Bilalov, a former national champion wrestler, said victorious Olympians would be due $500,000 (£326,000/€394,000) each from the Russian Olympic Committee.

And he added that that amount was likely to be at least matched by the president of the All-Russian Association of Summer Sports, steel magnate Vladimir Lisin.

"He is the richest person in Russia," said Bilalov with a grin. "He has $30 billion (£20 billion/€24 billion), so maybe he can spare a few million..."

Bilalov went on to say how the excuses of Russia's winter Olympians in Vancouver had paled to a whiter shade than snow following the subsequent performance of Russia's winter Paralympians, who topped the medal table.

As a consequence, Russia – keenly aware of the forthcoming challenges of London and Sochi – set in motion a revised plan, focussing more on individual athletes, employing some of the same advisors who had worked on Canada's fruitful Own The Podium programme in Vancouver. And backing it all up with serious money.

Colin Moynihan, chairman of the British Olympic Association, was among the invited guests on Thursday night, and - after a momentary glance towards the waiting photographers - accepted to offer of a Russian scarf being draped around his shoulders with the word "Solidarity".

Russia has historic reasons to be grateful to Moynihan, who was one of the most eloquent and persuasive voices heard in the run-up to the Moscow 1980 Games as he spoke up against the boycott proposed by Margaret Thatcher in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Moynihan subsequently earned a rowing silver as cox to the British eight.

On this occasion Moynihan was eloquent and persuasive in his assessment of Russia's financial power play as London 2012 and Sochi 2014 press upon the national consciousness.

"Russia had a big wake-up call in Beijing, and again in Vancouver, and that was compounded by the challenge of being hosts of a forthcoming Winter Games," Moynihan said.

"They have been putting a lot of emphasis on developing their winter sports, particularly in the Alpine events where they haven't got a history of achievement. And they are benefiting from Vladimir Putin's absolute commitment to sport.

"Funding has gone up significantly over the last two years. I think they will definitely be stronger in London than they were in Beijing.  But you need at least a four-year cycle to have a medal effect and then you must sustain that. You have got to be able to attract the best coaches, who will be looking for four-year contracts.

Two years of increased funding will give Russia a big uplift, but it will have less of an impact upon London than Rio 2016. Even so, I don't think we will be ahead of them by the Friday before the last weekend. There is little doubt that they will have greater consistency than they did in Beijing."

Alexander Yakovenko (pictured), the Russian Ambassador, told the assembled throng – some of whom had paid respectful attention to the free vodka on offer outside the main room at the foot of a magnificent, roped-off wooden staircase – that he had been present two days earlier at the preview of the latest Foreign and Commonwealth Office film about the forthcoming Olympics.

"Mr Hague, the Foreign Secretary, invited me to the preview of his film about the preparations of the British team," Yakovenko said. "I would like to say that this is a really good preparation, and I hope that all the people who come to this event will feel comfortable. We will definitely support it."

That support will be evident in Kensington during the time of the Games as the general public are invited to enjoy what one spokesman described as "a little bit of Russia right in the heart of London."

But the sporting support will be strenuous, and almost certainly at a higher level of intensity than in recent years.

Meanwhile, as Mr Hague announced in the ornate Italianate magnificence of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on Tuesday night, the film in question – Game Changer – Britain Prepares – will be made available to broadcasters around the globe, and will be screened by Britain's diplomatic missions at Embassy events.

He went on to express the hope that the short film – which follows an opening effort that has already been viewed by 400 million people – would inspire all who saw it with the "incredible energy, talent and skill shown by all those involved in the Games."

That message is carried by a sequence of figures including Lord Coe, David Beckham, Paralympian Shelly Woods and the Bolton steel workers preparing sections for the Olympic Park tower designed by Anish Kapoor and funded by the man living just a few doors down from the Russian Ambassador – Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal.

Russia's Olympic ambitions, however, tower at least as high as the structure which London Mayor Boris Johnson described as the Hubble Bubble at the time of the design's launch. And they will go on beyond 2014.

Let the last word go to their own steel magnate, Lisin: "For two years, every complex programme is nothing. It is necessary to prepare for the Olympics in Rio."

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, and has covered the past five Summer and four Winter Olympics for The Independent. Previously he has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, the Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. He is now chief feature writer for insidethegames. Rowbottom's Twitter feed can be accessed here.