A dancer from the Zhulin group, who performed for Kazakhstan, commented on Samodelkina’s transition to the flag of this country

Dancer Fedor Varlamov, in a conversation with , explained why the new federation can help the figure skater Sofia Samodelkina reach the international level.

Earlier it became known that the 16-year-old Russian skater, winner of the Junior Grand Prix stages, Sofya Samodelkina, will compete for Kazakhstan.

In the 2019/20 season, Varlamov performed under the flag of Kazakhstan in a duo with Anna Schneider. As Varlamov explained in an interview with , it was initially a temporary option to avoid a career break. Since 2021, Fedor has been performing with Varvara Kurnosenko, they train in Alexander Zhulin’s group and this season they won silver at the Panin Memorial.

— I cannot comment on the change of citizenship of Sonechka Samodelkina, because here, in all countries, there is an individual approach. There are rules about how to obtain citizenship, but there are also people who can circumvent these rules. However, an important point: Kazakhstan does not allow dual citizenship. That is, you can have Kazakh or Russian nationality.

As for international prospects, Kazakhstan now actively participates in many tournaments. The country supports the sanctions regime, as its leader says. This is why Western countries allow athletes everywhere. The problem is that the level of their athletes is rather low: they are not selected somewhere, they do not earn the points necessary to qualify for the main competitions. But there is access to the international stage if Sonya needs it. In any case, it’s good in Russia and, I’m sure, it will be better! , Varlamov told .