“A global change in approach to the situation.” Svishchev – about World Aquatics’ decision to relax the rules for admitting Russian athletes

Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Dmitry Svishchev in a conversation with , he called World Aquatics’ decision to relax the rules for admission to international competitions into a neutral status as a global change in approach to the situation.

In the new edition of the world swimming rules for neutral status, there are no clauses limiting applications of Russians for distances to international starts, there are no restrictions on participation in team events of the program, and there are also no restrictions on compliance with the standards exclusively outside of Russia and Belarus. On Thursday, the first vice-president of the Russian Swimming Federation, Vladimir Salnikov, told that representatives of the CSKA and Dynamo sports clubs can claim neutral status.

— This is a good start for the new united federation. This opens a new window of opportunity for our athletes, it is an opportunity not only for CSKA and Dynamo athletes, but also for synchronized swimming. If all this is confirmed, it will be a global change in approach to the situation. The IOC does not advise allowing us to play team sports, and if everything has changed, then that is good and positive news. There are federations who thought that whoever let us in first would now have an additional bridge for negotiations. Congratulations to all representatives of the United Federation. There will now be motivation for our athletes. But there is no need to relax, we must defend the possibility of competing under the flag of our country.

—Will this become a good example for others?

– Obviously. How is synchronized swimming going without us? What about hockey and rhythmic gymnastics? Impossible. There are enough sports of this type. This could become a precedent for people to count on (something). I’m sure there will be some grumbling from the neighbors, and not just from them, but from others as well, but if the decision has been made, we must carefully repair relations. I am close to the position of (Russian Sports Minister) Mikhail Degtyarev, who said that it is necessary to carefully engage in dialogue with our colleagues and restore the good word of Russian sport. This is a very important first step,” Svishchev told .

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