Idman.biz
Russian citizens representing Azerbaijan in international sports competitions may be banned from entering the Russian Federation.
According to İdman.Biz, Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev spoke about a possible entry ban for athletes who change their sports citizenship.
According to Degtyarev, Russia has already taken certain measures in this direction. He stressed that such decisions could affect athletes who train in Russia and then go to competitions for other countries.
"We are fighting this. Rules have been introduced, I have signed an order, and even one chess player was deprived of the title of grandmaster for changing sports citizenship. So here we feed them, educate them, provide them with coaches and conditions, but here they just throw away their passports and leave. We will deprive them of everything, ban them from entering the country and using our sports facilities. And we will achieve this," Degtyarev said.
Earlier, by order of the minister, chess player Vladimir Fedoseev was deprived of the titles of master of sports and grandmaster in Russia after changing his citizenship. In 2023, he announced his intention to compete for Slovenia.
Therefore, possible restrictions may also affect other Russian athletes who have changed their sports citizenship.
It should be noted that Russians compete in several Azerbaijani national teams in various sports. In particular, Vladimir Litvintsev, who qualified for the 2026 Olympics, may face new restrictions in the neighboring country. There are also many Russians in the freestyle wrestling team. Russian-born Anna Bashta is the leader of the Azerbaijani women's fencing team, and Gashim Magomedov, who won a silver medal in taekwondo at the 2024 Paris Olympics, is also of Russian origin.
If this law is passed, athletes of Russian origin will most likely have to choose their permanent place of residence.
