Thirty-eight by the hospital

Why does the Minister of Sports require sanctions for athletes who have changed their citizenship?

The desire of the chief athlete and chief Olympian Mikhail Degtyarev to introduce sanctions (including a ban on entry into the country) against Russian athletes who changed their sports citizenship was not even welcomed by all of his like-minded people. If it were implemented now, Russia would be closed to 38 participants in the 2026 Olympics, competing under the flags of France, Australia, South Korea, the Netherlands, not to mention Kazakhstan, Georgia, Armenia, Moldova and other countries.

Why did such, to put it mildly, outlandish stuffing have to be done right now? Yes, everything is simple - the Olympics are on, attracting some kind of attention, but the main Russian Olympian is not in business. It’s a mess, we need to remind ourselves, preferably in a brighter and more shocking way. In this, Mikhail Vladimirovich Degtyarev is a worthy successor to the principles of his former patron; it was not for nothing that Vladimir Volfovich singled him out. Zhirinovsky gave out news feeds at the speed of a machine gun, without allowing interruptions; Degtyarev, in his youth, was also distinguished by his eccentricity, but as a representative of the executive branch, for some time now he has had to be more careful. However, the past makes itself felt every now and then. Then the Olympic minister gives vent to his feelings, and the information agenda changes, as recently happened after an interview on the Central Channel program on VK Video.

But it was necessary, of course, to give out something that would excite and touch a nerve, and Degtyarev attacked the “traitors,” of which there are already 38 people in Milan alone.

It is possible that Mikhail Vladimirovich was reminded the day before that the number of Russians competing under foreign flags significantly exceeds the number of neutral athletes from Russia, of whom there are only 13.

The same thing, by the way, happened at the Paris Summer Olympics 2024 - there were five times more “defectors” than neutrals.

It is clear that the Games in Italy were expected to change the situation, but the enormous efforts to return Russian sports to the Olympic arenas have so far led to the fact that it was possible to almost repeat the neutral representation in Paris. Appeals, lawsuits, trials, promises, hopes - and only 13 people at the Games. With minimal chances for medals, and at least one medal. The “defectors” are doing better, but, of course, not as well as in Paris 2024, where the ex-Russians won six gold medals. Nevertheless, Degtyarev gave the following about the athletes who changed their sports citizenship: “Here we feed them, educate them, provide them with coaches, bases - and then he threw away his passport and left. We will be deprived of everything, prohibited from entering the country and using our sports facilities. And we will get there!”

Maybe Mikhail Degtyarev doesn’t know that changing sports citizenship does not necessarily mean parting with a Russian passport? And that in order to ban a Russian citizen from entering the country, more serious grounds are needed? No, of course, the candidate of legal sciences probably knows this well, but he considered it his civic duty to brand “traitors.” As for cheap populism and exceeding the degree of righteous anger, they don’t go to jail for this, unless they scold them in their own way. The minister is young, he is not trying for himself, he worries about Russia, and the higher he climbs the career ladder, the more he worries.

...He started in the sports field in 2024 as a progressive and reformer, who immediately cut short the “hawks” who dreamed of a complete break with the corrupt West. Degtyarev nipped in the bud discussions about whether it was worth competing at international competitions without a flag and anthem, strongly advised to move from accusatory rhetoric against the IOC and international federations to establishing contacts, stood firmly in defense of “neutrals” and emphasized that the main goal of his arrival was the full return of Russian sports to the international arena. Looking at the decisive steps of the “young and early” ex-governor, many were ready to believe in the liberalization of the process, in the long-awaited thaw. Not noticing that the relaxations were due to the actual failure of the strategy conventionally called the “Olympic alternative” - none of the serious players was in a hurry to support the alternative international starts organized by Russia, huge amounts of money were spent on accepting unknown athletes, and even the “best friends” looked the other way, supporting Russian innovations solely in words.

It is clear that it was not the newly minted minister who decided to direct his forces towards the return; he was guided by direct instructions from above.

Indirect evidence of a change in course was the quiet postponement of the grandiose World Friendship Games, scheduled for September 2024, first to next year, and then “until further notice.”

The intensification of work to return Russian sports to the Olympic family was facilitated by the changing situation in the world - from the eccentric initiatives of Donald Trump to the hopes associated with the election of a new IOC president. Degtyarev intensified his work with international sports federations, brought in strong lawyers who flooded the Court of Arbitration for Sport with claims, and in 2025 the process began - albeit not as quickly as desired.

But Mikhail Degtyarev did not justify the change of sports citizenship even in the short “liberal” period, considering the acceptance of strict admission conditions as a forced measure, and leaving under a different flag as a manifestation of self-centeredness, weakness and almost treason. The change in sports citizenship by Russians received less attention than problems with neutral status, but the number of “traitors” who transferred to other national teams by the summer of 2024 reached, according to some sources, 350 people and continued to increase. Something had to be done.

...When Minister Degtyarev, after being elected head of the Russian Olympic Committee in December 2024, gained double power, he was absolutely convinced that all his actions were the only correct ones. He announced that his destiny as a service man belongs only to Vladimir Putin. He explained: if they order from above, he will rule the sport even until retirement. “He turned on the boss” on the issue of the limit on foreign players in football, at the same time informing the public that he did not know who Sergei Semak was (for a second, the head coach of Zenit, the multiple champion of Russia). It will be as he says - in some complex issues this is exactly the argument that came into play.

And of course, in the midst of the Olympics, the minister could not help but be concerned with making life difficult for insufficiently patriotic athletes, which fit perfectly into the all-Russian trend of restricting rights and freedoms. Degtyarev had the opportunity to correct his sweeping statement, made in the spirit of an unforgettable patron, and about closing the border, he said that the Ministry of Sports does not have such powers, “but measures need to be developed.” It would be good if the minister limited himself to the issue of paying financial compensation for moving to another team, although there are also many difficulties and a lot of pitfalls here - the cost of 260 thousand rubles per year per young athlete is very relative, as is one and a half million per year per member of the Russian national team. According to Degtyarev, “without reimbursement of these expenses to the state, there can be no talk of changing sports citizenship,” but you can present a debt of 50 million, or 100, so that even the thought of “escape” does not arise. However, compensation at least makes sense to discuss.

But this was not enough. “To go and compete at international competitions despite the circumstances, even under a neutral flag, and to bring medals to Russia is one thing. And changing citizenship is pure betrayal. And so my opinion is this, and it is correct.” And one more thing:

“When moving to another national team under a different flag is treacherous, we must apply sanctions... We are not on the same path with those who change their flag or citizenship for short-term career reasons...

The Ministry of Sports has already issued an order to deprive sports titles for switching to another sports citizenship. I believe that this area of ​​work can be developed to the point of banning the use of Russian sports infrastructure for training. Because there are athletes whom we have raised and trained, but they compete in competitions under a different flag, and are still preparing in Russia.”

Still, limit, condemn, ban, not at all concerned with the fact that the intolerable conditions in which athletes deprived of the right to enter the international arena found themselves were created not without the participation of their own state, which, whatever one may say, also bears some responsibility for what is happening. An athlete whose active life is short can most easily be put on a chain as an addition to an international ban, but in this case people will flee abroad in advance, without waiting for new orders from the Ministry of Sports to be issued. Chain patriotism has nothing to do with the truth.

In any case, the minister’s initiative raises dozens of questions, starting with how to assess the degree of perfidy during the transition, and ending with the constitutional rights of citizens of the Russian Federation, which, in the absence of legal claims of a different nature, theoretically no one can take away. If a person is artificially deprived of a way to realize his talents, and the state cannot help him in any way, then he has the right to look for the necessary conditions for himself. There is currently no legal basis to deprive someone of citizenship for this, unless the applicant himself expresses such a desire.

...In general, the reasons for changing sports citizenship are different. The current Russian fairly massive exodus is caused by special circumstances, and in relatively prosperous times this could be due to the inability to get into the Russian national team or the lack of this kind of prospect, a conflict with a coach or the relevant federation, financial problems, marriage, marriage or other personal reasons, a desire to improve living conditions... In the end, simply gaining the ability to freely move around the world without unnecessary hassle with visas (which a Russian passport does not provide).

The transition for fundamental political reasons in the Russian sports environment is in one of the last places, which is not surprising: athletes, especially elite ones, are sovereign people, and this system cannot be changed overnight.

With the maxim “if you want to leave, pay!” Many agree that the “renegades” should be deprived of everything, almost everyone disagrees, if only because many important people have potentially dangerous family ties, and to pass a law “keep them out!” It won’t work exclusively for athletes. By the way, how can you “not let” people into a country if they live in it, even though they support another country? And how to amicably resolve the issue with the same Caucasian wrestlers - gold medalists of the 2024 Olympics, who were greeted as heroes in their homeland, although they represented Bahrain, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria? What to do with the thousands of Russian coaches who help “cheaters” here and abroad?

So far, none of the 38 “traitors” performing in Italy (22 of them are figure skaters, of whom there are always more than places in the Russian national team) have stepped on the delicate feelings of the “true patriots,” and there will not be such a blatant advantage as there was in Paris - 17:1 in favor of the “defectors” over neutrals in medals - now there will not be. But each of those who “stumbled” should know that Minister Degtyarev is vigilant and, if anything happens, will teach him to love the Motherland.

So it's better not to irritate him.