Vladimir Salnikov: “There is no escape wave during swimming. And I don’t think that’s going to happen.

President of the All-Russian Swimming Federation Vladimir Salnikov in an interview with , he said that in swimming there had not been a noticeable increase in the number of athletes leaving Russia.

In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin asked the head of the Russian Hockey Federation (RHF), Vladislav Tretyak, and the Russian Sports Ministry to examine the situation in which Russian hockey players leave at young ages to play in foreign leagues. The Head of State highlighted the obvious damage caused by the fact that “hockey merchants select children from sports schools and train them abroad”, stressing that this is “a trade not always regulated and not always noble.

— Vladimir Putin spoke at the Perm forum about the need to deal with businessmen who take away our children. Doesn’t this apply to swimming?

— Where there is a lot of money, there are big problems. We have little money for sailing and there has been no noticeable increase in the number of departures. And before the sanctions, there was a program that operated in American universities. They recruited teams including residents of different countries, including Russia. Our children left and stayed there to study. This type of recruitment aims to strengthen your university team. Two or three people can leave, but some do not even reach the level of candidates for the Russian national team.

As for the conscious change of sports citizenship in order to participate in the Olympic Games, we can only cite the episode with Anastasia Kirpichnikova. But she had already been living and training in France for many years. She strived for it – and in the end she came. Our federation met halfway and the change of citizenship was approved internationally.

Two more athletes, far from being of the highest level, went to friendly CIS countries – and, in fact, that’s it. No wave of shoots is observed. And I don’t think that’s going to happen. I don’t want to repeat common truths, but support for athletes in our country is much higher than anywhere else in the world,” Salnikov told .

Russian swimmers were not allowed to participate in international competitions due to the situation in Ukraine. In September, the International Swimming Federation (World Aquatics) decided to admit the Russians to a neutral status, following recommendations from the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Admission is only individual, without the possibility of participating in relay races, and during the World Championships there is a ban on communication with the media.

Salnikov later said that to be admitted, athletes must sign a special declaration. At the same time, the FSM intends to seek the full restoration of the rights of Russians to participate in competitions under the auspices of World Aquatics.