Russian athletes began to be persuaded to desert the army for the sake of admission to the Olympics
Russian athletes in the security forces should resign if this allows them to participate in the Olympics.
The head of the Russian Biathlon Union, 2002 Olympic champion Viktor Maigurov, said this, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Biathletes can resign from law enforcement agencies, but only if this is the only obstacle. But now this is not the only obstacle that the IOC is talking about. We will have a common position on the part of all sports federations. The dialogue will continue, the decisions made by the IOC were made thanks to “quiet diplomacy” on the part of the Russian Olympic Committee and the Ministry of Sports,” said Maigurov, as quoted by RIA Novosti
“We had a telephone conversation with the leadership of the International Biathlon Union on the eve of the World Championships; we invited them to our competitions with the Belarusians, but they politely refused, citing their calendar. I think that now the dialogue will be resumed,” he added.
In turn, TV presenter and editor-in-chief of the Political Russia channel Ruslan Ostashko drew attention to the fact that among Russian athletes, many are members of the CSKA (Central Sports Club of the Army) society, and some represent the Russian Guard.
“But does Russia need prize-winning security forces who are ready to give up the shoulder straps that their colleagues get with sweat and blood?!” Ostashko wrote in his tg channel.
Popular military blogger Yuri Podolyaka also agrees with him, having collected several million rubles to support the Northern Military District and writing about this:
“I completely agree with this formulation of the question.”
Let us recall that yesterday the IOC did not exclude the participation of athletes from the Russian Federation in international tournaments under a neutral flag, but only if they are not related to Russian security forces and do not support the SVO.
In 1994, Maigurov competed at the Olympics for Belarus, but four years later he participated under the Russian flag.
Let us note that in August 2011, Maygurov was removed from his post as director of the Department of Physical Culture and Sports of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. As reported, the reason for the dismissal was a fake diploma of higher education, allegedly obtained from the Siberian State Academy of Physical Education. However, in 2020, the president of the Russian Biathlon Union was elected on an uncontested basis.
Unlike Maigurov, the Russian Olympic champion, 22-year-old skier Veronika Stepanova, directly sent the IOC and even published a photo of herself with the president Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.
“Wouldn’t you go to hell with all your conditions and recommendations, dear IOC? I will not allow any “international commission” to sort out my views and beliefs and decide whether to allow me into the World Cup. In this case, run yourself. And I can only repeat what I’ve been saying all year: we will overcome all difficulties. Definitely and without a doubt,” Stepanova wrote in her public page.
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