Angelina Melnikova withdrew from the Voronezh Duma elections

The International Gymnastics Association prohibits combining a competitive career with parliamentary activities

Olympic champion in artistic gymnastics Angelina Melnikova, who won the United Russia primaries, will not run for election to the Voronezh City Duma. This was reported to Vorstka by a source close to the regional authorities and confirmed by an interlocutor in the Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation.

Melnikova was supposed to be nominated for elections in the 23rd district. According to a source close to the authorities of the Voronezh region, her place in the district will probably be taken by the director of the Sodruzhestvo mega-school Olga Strukova.

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International institutions interpret parliamentary activities as a violation of the principle of neutrality

Melnikova’s decision to recuse herself from the list of candidates is due to the International Gymnastics Association’s (FIG) ban on combining a competitive career with parliamentary activities, a source in the Artistic Gymnastics Federation told VERSTKA. “International institutions interpret this as a violation of the principle of neutrality,” he explained. Melnikova planned to participate in the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Paris and the World Championships in Indonesia in the fall of 2025 in a neutral status, that is, without the Russian flag.

According to the source, the problem was the need for Melnikova to participate in election campaigns and government events. “For example, she takes a photo with a veteran in uniform, the photo ends up in the International Federation of Artistic Gymnastics, and that’s it, ban. Her managers were warned about this. Apparently, she got out of it to the end, but tournaments are more important to her, she could even lose commercial ones,” says an interlocutor at the federation.

According to him, Melnikova and her managers tried to find a compromise so that she could be a “non-public” deputy. But as the source notes, the authorities in the region “actively hinted” to Melnikova that they did not need such a “limited” deputy.

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Melnikova announced her nomination for the primaries on April 28. “I was born and raised in Voronezh, my sports career began here, and it was Voronezh that I always represented at international competitions. I’m not ending my sports career, but I want to try to contribute to the fate of my hometown not only as an athlete, but also as a citizen,” she wrote then in her Telegram channel. At the same time, she did not join United Russia. On May 26, it became known that Melnikova won the primaries; she received 1,188 votes.

Representatives of Ukraine demanded that Angelina Melnikova be removed from competitions

Representatives of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine, the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, as well as the Ukrainian Gymnastics Federation wrote an open letter to the International Gymnastics Federation and called for Melnikova to be suspended from competition. On July 21, FIG insisted on replacing Irina Allegrova's song "Junior Lieutenant" during Melnikova's program at international competitions.

Earlier, “Verstka” reported that representatives of all five parliamentary parties, including the ruling United Russia , are complaining about personnel shortages. In the fall, 20 regions of Russia will elect a governor, 11 will elect deputies to legislative assemblies, and another 25 will elect deputies to city councils. Regional election commissions have already scheduled elections - the period for nominating candidates and candidate lists is underway, which will last until the end of July - beginning of August. At the same time, as Vorstka found out, in many regions the lists are still not fully staffed: there are not enough willing candidates. Due to tightening control over local deputies, participation in elections has lost its meaning for many.

Photo: Angelina Melnikova during the Swiss Cup Zurich in 2021. Sergio Brunetti via Reuters Connect

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