Russian athletes as enemies of the state?

If Duma deputy Roman Teryushkov has his way, certain athletes should be classified as traitors in the future.

That's what Teryushkov, a member of Putin's United Russia party, demanded on his telegram channel in July.

The alleged offense: changing athletic citizenship.

Alexander Davydov

sports editor.

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Athletes leaving their homeland to compete for another country is not a new issue in Russia.

Since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, however, this step has become increasingly attractive for numerous top athletes - as a way out of professional isolation.

Except for domestic tournaments or hastily developed competitions with so-called "friendly countries" such as Belarus or Syria, Russian athletes are forced to follow the world's most important events from afar.

But the pressure on the athletes is also growing in their own country.

For example, according to Russian media reports, sports equipment has become up to 100 percent more expensive in recent months.

Many have problems financing the necessary equipment – ​​if it is even available because of the sanctions.

The Russian news agency TASS reported that there is a shortage of sports equipment in the Russian ice hockey league KHL.

"The clubs are working on a solution, someone has problems with gloves, someone with bats, someone with helmets," said KHL President Alexei Morozov.

The selection of well-known international sponsors who would be willing to support Russian athletes is also scarce.

The sporting goods manufacturer Rossignol, for example, ended its long-standing collaboration with cross-country skier Alexander Bolschunov.

For the multiple Olympic and world champion, this is both a material and a financial loss.

Too little support from home

However, there is not enough help from the state itself.

Marathon runner Dmitri Safronov criticized on Russian television that the will to take part in national competitions is there, but that it is becoming increasingly difficult to make a living from it.

"We went out and did our job, but we weren't paid for it.

That's the current situation in athletics here with us.” And that's why some top Russian athletes are drawn abroad.

According to a report by the Russian television station M24, dozens of winter sports athletes are said to have followed the lure into the distance.

This includes, for example, the ice hockey player Yevgeny Skatschkow, who competes for the Romanian national team.

He wanted to take part in a World Cup again, he said.

Or the biathlete Lidia Zhurauskaite, who wants to represent Lithuania at the 2026 Olympic Games in Italy.

According to media reports, Putin personally signed her expatriation.

Although neither Skatschkow nor Zhurauskaite are among the best in Russia in their respective disciplines, they are also competitive athletes - and affected by the same situation in their homeland as many of the more prominent athletes.

Russian figure skating coach Tatyana Tarasova defended the decision to leave homeland: “We coaches know better than anyone else that an athlete's career is short-lived.

I can understand those who want to change citizenship," she told Russian media.

"If there is no other choice and your sporting life lasts two to three years and sometimes a year, then surely someone will think about it.

It's not a betrayal of the homeland.

It's just a choice out of hopelessness.”

criticism and threats

Duma deputy and Turin Olympic champion in speed skating, Svetlana Zhurova, expressed less sympathy for the case of chess player Yevgeny Romanov.

This changed shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine to the Norwegian national team.

"There is currently a hostile attitude towards all Russians abroad," Zhurova commented on Romanov's decision in an interview.

“And suddenly all his problems are solved?

Changing citizenship is a betrayal, double or triple.

Nobody will like him there anyway.

Does he really think that just because he's playing for Norway will change that?"