“Everyone claimed that they agreed with the letter”: Alyabyev about the scandalous appeal to Drachev and the situation in the RRF

- You were one of those people who did not deny their participation in writing a famous letter addressed to the President of the SBR Vladimir Drachev. Did you expect the reaction to be so mixed?

- The fact is that just yesterday I read both Drachev’s reaction and the answer to it by Sergei Golikov (executive director of the RRF. - RT ). It does not fit into any framework, the coronavirus is resting. What is going on? You can’t be like that, especially Volodya. Golikov is my close friend, we have been friends for 20 years. In the 2000s, he helped a lot of the youth team of Russia, financed training camps. This was never told publicly, only those who knew it knew. And such a person was indiscriminately called an alcoholic! Has anyone ever seen him drunk? I was very outraged. Yesterday I called Drachev twice, but he didn’t pick up the phone, although then I still found the strength and apologized to Golikov for my words.

- Who initiated the writing of a collective letter with claims to Drachev?

- There were several of us: me, Dmitry Vasiliev, Sergey Golikov, Alexander Privalov. None of us was going to write or publish anything, they wanted to criticize the coaching council, we expected that they would invite us there, but the event was canceled. So we decided that we must somehow express our opinion and describe the problems. There is nothing offensive in this letter.

- How did it happen that the letter hit the press without being signed by those whose names were under the text?

- I personally called Anna Bogaliy-Titovets, and Vladimir Barnashov, and Vladimir Alikin, and Valery Polkhovsky, and Viktor Yurlov, and Gennady Kovalev. I couldn’t reach Maxim Kugaevsky, he sent him an SMS. Previously I discussed with everyone that we plan to prepare such a letter, told each of the interlocutors in detail on the phone what exactly will be written in the letter, and asked to add my wishes or comments, if anyone has them, and inform me or the manager about them SBR press service to Konstantin Boytsov so that the text would be amended. They were brought in only by Barnashov and Valery Medvedtsev. After that, I once again asked if everyone agreed with the letter, and everyone said yes. Although in fact there were really no signatures.

- Doesn’t it seem incorrect to you that the president of the RRF, a person from the same biathlon family, learns about complaints against him not directly, but through the media?

- We have repeatedly raised the question: why does the team perform so poorly, why is there no healthy situation either in the team or in the board of the RBU. From this, in fact, claims to Drachev began to accumulate: conversations are conducted alone, and things are completely different. The same Golikov is a smart, competent specialist who quickly figured out all the financial problems. I myself have asked Drachev many times that he should talk with Sergey, smooth out all disagreements. That is, he tried in every way to reconcile them, but to no avail. As a result, a lot of problems have accumulated, and you see for yourself what it all poured into.

- Who gave the go-ahead for publication?

- There were press releases, first of all, from Boytsov, but before doing anything, he usually called me, Golikov, Vasiliev. Together we decided that since the letter was agreed with everyone, let them be published before the meeting of the RRF Board, which will be held on April 6. So that everyone has the opportunity to familiarize themselves with our claims, including the Minister of Sports. Just the exact date of publication was not called. I emphasize once again - the letter was agreed with everyone, including those who now claim that they did not put a signature. But now everyone began to say that they misunderstood each other. Of course, this is our mistake. It was necessary at first to coordinate all the details more carefully. And perhaps inform Drachev that such a letter exists.

“And you don’t have the feeling that someone intentionally set you up by letting the information leak before the details were agreed?”

- I did not think about that. I can not believe that someone could intentionally do this. Although this is perhaps my biggest minus: I trust people too much and do not know how to lie.