“Losing the election was a shame, but not to the point of shooting yourself or spitting on anything.” Interview with Alexei Nuzhdov

– You left the RRF, but continue to lead the Federation of the Moscow region. How much work is there now?

– All the regional federations have the same problems: ensuring the process of training top-level athletes, if there are any. To do this, it is necessary to find considerable financial resources, since it is impossible to cover all aspects of preparation with budget money. No less, if not more important task: the material and technical base and regional competitions for all categories. It sounds simple, but you need a convenient schedule, prepared venues, a sufficient level of organization, decent refereeing.

All this requires work not only daily, but sometimes on time. Much, of course, depends on the number of people involved. In regions where there are three, five, ten athletes, there are fewer problems. If in the centralized training there are about 40 people and about eight coaches, as in our federation, then there are enough worries. The same cartridges are now a big deal. It was not easy with them before, but now deliveries abroad have stopped, prices for Russian products have increased three to four times. And even for that kind of money, the right amount is not easy to get.

– After weaning our biathletes from international competitions, has sponsorship been retained in the regional biathlon?

– The Federation of the Moscow region had and still has a sponsor – me. In this sense, nothing has changed. Children and adults train and compete. Pervushin, Goreeva, Streltsov, Drozdova, who joined Bekh – everyone is in place, preparing for the season.

– Have you spoken to Beh? How is his mood after returning from Ukraine to Russia, without an international debut?

– She works with a wink, she has something to prove at the Russian level. Beh was not considered the leader of the national team before going abroad, so her drive and ambition are in order.

– As part of our sports ban, many have mentioned the possible change of nationality of young Russians. Do you hear about it in biathlon?

“I haven’t talked to anyone about this and I haven’t heard of anything like it. As far as I know, there is no one in our federation who wants to leave.

“Have you had to deal with sports armor in the context of a partial mobilization?”

– The federation has no such function. We can do something in a consultative way, the subject has been discussed. Everyone has the same approach, including athletes and coaches: to act strictly according to the law. A summons has come – you must appear. We can write a letter: an active athlete of such and such a level, plays for such and such a team. Not a petition, but an information document. But we don’t have the right to remove someone from the law, that’s just wrong.

– Your personal position: are well-trained people who know how to shoot excellently subject to mobilization?

– My position coincides with the Constitution and all normative acts: what a citizen is supposed to do, he must do. I myself fall under the first stage project, since the colonel of the reserve has not reached the age of 55, I have combat experience and a military unit in great demand. If they find it necessary to call, they will call.

– Shouldn’t athletes who please people with victories in difficult times have preferences?

– Athletes, journalists, actors, officials – we are all, above all, citizens of the country.

– If so, MMA-trained Russians and their many retinues should fulfill their civic duty not at a tournament in the Emirates, but elsewhere.

There may be several opinions, but above all the law. It must be followed, and authorized bodies must be prescribed how to do it under conditions of partial mobilization. There is nothing to add.

– Ahead of the October elections of the head of the RBU, the accreditation of the biathlon federations of Perm and Transbaikal was suspended. Is everything back to normal?

– Didn’t come back.

– How to do?

– I just spoke with Gennady Kovalev, head of the Transbaikal Federation. He made an appointment with the regional sports minister. The reason for the suspension of approval was the absence of an annual report to the local authorities. A standard form document, not to say incredibly valuable. According to Kovalev, he sent it to the local TsSP. Probably lost along the way, let’s call it that. Does such a violation warrant suspension of accreditation? Officials decided yes. Kovalev will try to explain that in such a formulation of the question there are more disadvantages than advantages. Let’s see where this leads.

– Your recent electoral program was noted as aimed at helping the regions. Where were they going to get the money from? And what prevents the current leadership of the RRF from supporting the regions in the same way?

– Everything was planned in the program, it is open data. In eight years of work at the RRF, I have learned to understand and compare: there has never been such a large budget as this year. Much converged, including the appearance of a strategic sponsor. In the spring, I remember, the plans started from three options for the RRF budget – 100, 150 and 200 million rubles. The sponsor completely closed the average of these amounts, but the support of Gazprom and the deductions of the unified gambling regulator were preserved. As a result, the budget turned out to be more than 300 million, which exceeds the wildest expectations. A few years ago, and two hundred something was considered space.

On this basis, I included in the electoral program the intention to pay each region one million a year. Despite the fact that we have 55 biathlon federations. I myself went through difficult times in the Moscow region, I know that this money would definitely be used. In the regions, every penny is precious, where sponsors are the exception, not the rule, everything is based on enthusiasts.

– Not everywhere. Otherwise, the athletes would not be attracted to the rich regions, and the poor would not be held back, demanding a million in compensation, like Udmutriy for Yemerkhonov.

The question is larger than it seems. What is supporting an athlete? Pay him a salary? Provide training? Buy equipment and supplies? In the Moscow region, the fee for an athlete instructor, as, I think, throughout Russia, is 22,000 rubles per month. Streltsov, Goreeva, Bekh – everyone gets exactly as many. The national team has its own tariffs, they are covered by the main CSP. There are no other salaries. But the regional federation provides training. For an athlete of the same level Beh, this is about one and a half million rubles a year. inventory, cartridges, logistics, service and so on.

There are regions where athletes are additionally rewarded with funds or at the expense of sponsors. Engage extrabudgetary opportunities. But it is more important, I think, to fund a quality training process, not high salaries. Our federation invests tens of millions of rubles in this area, although it cannot pay for skis with cartridges and travel expenses, but gives an athlete a lot of money. But who needs such training?

If an athlete’s goal is not victory, but a salary, then we have different paths. It is no longer a sport of the highest performance, but an artificial prolongation of a career. Behind which there is a dead end, because the forty-somethings, having finished, find themselves without normal education and profession. Why indulge in it? If anyone thinks otherwise, let him look for funds and pay big salaries to athletes. I have a different position.

Are you ready for people to leave you for rich areas?

– Let them go, I let them go. It happened before, Yulia Drozdova started playing for Khanty. Now she has returned, running again for the Moscow region.

– The large budget of the RRF, of which you spoke, did not leave after your departure? The regions will receive their million?

– In words, yes, in practice, we’ll see. There may be issues with this. We agreed with Viktor Maigurov: no matter who wins, the financial model that I proposed, that is to say the aid to the federations in the declared amount, will remain in force. Honor and praise to him, he kept it in his program. The little thing is to do it. If I succeed, I will consider that I have contributed to the development of biathlon, regardless of the outcome of the elections.

– Did you have personal agreements with your current sponsors which could push them away from the RRF?

– I don’t think so, everything will remain in effect. On the one hand, sponsors do not come to someone personally, they are interested in competitions and TV shows. On the other hand, much depends on the management of the RRF. Confidence should not turn into self-confidence, otherwise sponsors can be lost.

Was it a shame to lose the elections?

– It is more appropriate to ask – how insulting, because it is always unpleasant to lose. But not enough to shoot himself or spit on everything. Agreed: the chances are about equal. As they say, the negative scenario came true. You can’t do anything, you have to move on.

– Are there legal prospects for compromising information about Viktor Maygurov, which surfaced during the pre-election period?

– Dealing with law enforcement. What depended on me, I did: I saw the signs of a crime, I formalized it, I handed it over to the competent structures. As far as I know, an audit is underway, the authorities have requested materials, someone has been fired. How will all this end and in what plan – administrative or penal, the question is not for me. I think there is a criminal aspect, but other institutions will make a decision.

– Alexander Tikhonov advised you not to dishonor your epaulets and not to interfere in the management of biathlon. Striped?

– Alexander Ivanovich himself is either a colonel or a general, I do not remember. His words have not scratched anyone for a long time. The names of the people criticized can be changed, their list is known to everyone and the text is almost the same. As they talk about sanctions now, I’m proud to be on par with famous people. Tikhonov himself hardly hopes to scratch anyone. “I fight because I fight.” He scolds because he is used to scold. In what form – it speaks rather not about me, but about him. The attitude, like that of all those whom he decorated with epithets, is calm. The wind, the sun, the rain are phenomena of the same order. There is and there is what you can do. On the contrary, it arouses respect that at such an age a person has retained a fuse, and over the years becomes even more energetic.