Russian champion figure skater refused to play for Russia and changed citizenship

Famous Russian figure skater Sofya Samodelkina is moving to the Kazakhstan team. The 16-year-old Moscow native is the vice-champion of the Junior Grand Prix in Slovenia (2021), silver medalist of the Russian Junior Championships (2022), winner of the Russian Junior Cup Final (2020) and winner of the Volga Pirouette Stage V of the Russian Grand Prix (2022). She performed all types of quadruple jumps and triple axel.

The executive director of the Skating Union of Kazakhstan (SKK), Olzhas Besbayev, said Samodelkina had already received a Kazakh passport. Besbayev emphasized that it is illegal to have two citizenships in their country in a commentary to propagandists from RIA Novosti.

"Samodelkina renounced her Russian citizenship, I think so. Tennis player Lena Rybakina refused, I tell you for sure. We have only one citizenship according to the law," the CCM director said.

Besbaev specified that most likely either her mother or one of her closest direct relatives was born on the territory of the republic, so they received passports in a simplified format.

The Russian Figure Skating Federation (FFKR) has already been notified of Samodelkina's desire to move to another national team but has not allowed to do so at this time.

There was a mass exodus of athletes in Russia after the events of February 24 last year.

The current winner of the Russian championship in speed skating at a distance of 500 meters Christina Silayeva will compete under the flag of Kazakhstan . According to the 23-year-old athlete, she no longer trains in the Russian Federation and decided to change her citizenship in early spring.

Famous Russian swimmer Anastasia Kirpichnikova has decided to play for the French national team.

Sofya Prosvirnova, four-time World Championship medalist and five-time European short track speed skating champion, refused to play for Russia after receiving a Danish passport.

Russian former world champion in the first heavyweight division Murat Gassiev was granted Armenian citizenship.

Earlier it became known that the two-time winner of the world championship in biathlon among boys and juniors Viktor Plitsev received sports citizenship of Northern Macedonia.

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