Russian athletes appeared in the application for the Pan-Arab Games in Algeria under the guise of participants from the Syrian national team – with changed names.
There were seven Russian women among the participants of the Pan Arab Games: in particular, badminton player Daria Dzhedzhula (listed on the site as Dasha Dhedhula), cyclists Daria and Tatyana Malkov (appear under the names Darie Malko and Tatia Malko), swimmer Anastasia Sorokina (listed under the name Enas Sorkine) and a thrower spears Karina Poludkina (registered as Karina Polud). Daria Malkova's year of birth has also been changed – instead of 2000, 2001 is indicated. At the same time, only two athletes went through the full official procedure for changing sports citizenship – Alexandra Maksimova in artistic gymnastics and Milana Mrad in judo.
How Russian athletes, without going through the procedure for changing sports federations, ended up in the Syrian team is unknown. The head of the Syrian Sports Federation, Firas Maala, said that there is not a single non-Syrian athlete in the country's national team, announced for the Pan-Arab Games. The Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation also stated that the information that appeared on the tournament website is not true, and Russian athletes do not take part in the Pan Arab Games. Sports.ru managed to find people who recruited Russian athletes, and, apparently, the Syrian Sports Federation was well aware of the recruitment: the athletes were offered $2,500 per month and another $2,000 if they won, and they also set specific conditions.
For example, in the announcement of the recruitment of swimmers, it was said that the standard was met at a distance of 400 meters freestyle – 4 minutes 10 seconds. This is the norm of the master of sports of international class. Also in the announcement it was said that the athletes are given a temporary passport (a permanent one in Syria is given only by birthright). The recruiter contacted by the publication explained that there is a big problem with sports facilities in Syria. In addition, finding female athletes in an Arab country is a separate and serious problem. Therefore, the authorities could use such a trick to complete the national team before the Pan-Arab Games, because, in fact, Russian athletes are now left without prospects for participating in international competitions and developing a sports career.
“I applaud them, they are my heroes”
Russian sports journalist, commentator Alexander Shmurnov emphasizes that Russia itself has created such conditions for its athletes, who have devoted their whole lives to sports and are now left with nothing.
“I am not interested in what will happen to Russia and Syria and their federations. I'm interested in what will happen to specific athletes. In general, I would consider this whole case exclusively from the side of athletes, and it seems to me very important and interesting. Athletes, as a rule, are young people who do not understand themselves well in the coordinate system, who act as the coach or some other boss among the coaches tells them. The average coach in Russia is concerned not to lose his job and life. On the one hand, they cannot escape anywhere with their section, academy or team. They can only sit somewhere in different sports and come up with something in order to at least participate in competitions.
It is impossible to participate in the competitions that the Russian Federation is currently holding. Those senseless and stupid lies that they treat themselves to are generally ridiculous. It’s funny to listen to Dmitry Chernyshenko, “deputy head of government”, who speaks to Putin, and he asks: “Well, how are we going to hold competitions with the BRICS countries now?” – to which Chernyshenko says (and lies) that we will have a festival, knowing that there will be no festival, then looks at the screen. This is already such an absurdity, because they cannot organize anything. Rotenberg offers to go to India and play hockey there. It is enough to remember Ranevskaya with her joke about perversion. <Minister of Sports Oleg> Matytsin says that they agreed with Mongolia that we should meet more often and exchange sports experience.
And all this concerns a million athletes who live in Russia, and maybe more. There are about a million professional athletes, that is, those who have devoted their lives to sports. What should this million do when they are offered to play hockey in India and compete with the Mongols and participate in non-existent festivals? They come up with workarounds, and I absolutely understand them. I am wholeheartedly in favor of all Russian athletes now, as in the movie “Shirley Myrli”, living in the Canary Islands for three years. So that they all now leave for Lesotho and show up from Lesotho for the Olympics. It's my opinion. If you can’t in Lesotho, then you can go to Swaziland, and further down the list. So if I see someone standing for Syria, I applaud and say: “Listen, how cool you are! What a great guy you are."
“What should this million do when they are offered to play hockey in India and compete with the Mongols and participate in non-existent festivals?”
Now to the rules of the game. To play for Syria, you need to have a Syrian passport, spend a few years there as a Syrian citizen, play for the national team, and then, maybe, you will be put on the Olympics. It is clear that the Olympics are now, that an athlete can show a result now, and what will happen in four years is not clear. I understand that they are trying to circumvent all existing laws – someone draws fake documents, someone just tries to leak somewhere without them, and even I applaud them. It's great that you are running away from a system that does not give you the opportunity in principle to do your business – from the Matytsins, Rotenbergs and Chernyshenkas, as well as those associated with them. Of course, they will now begin to catch them all, <like> Italy catches Angolans or Albanians who cross the Mediterranean or Adriatic Sea on boats. Yes, they will start catching, but anyone who gets into the Syrian national team or any team at all and legalizes his position as an athlete will be my hero. Punish Russia for this? Yes, there is nowhere else, she is removed from everything. Russia wants the championship of Crimea and for another hundred years will not take part in any competitions, except for hockey with the Indians and the MBA or the NHL in Mongolia.
Will the Syrians be punished? Well, if they prove that the passports are fake, they will most likely be punished, but if I were the Olympic Committee, I would say: “Thank you, Syrians, for accepting people who tried to jump out of this system and save their lives.” When a boat with Albanians or Somalis sails to Italy, or when an immigrant drives one wheel into the United States, he has new rights. By the way, this is interesting – America is building a conditional wall, but, nevertheless, if you wheel into the territory of the United States, as my friends did, and have time to slip past the car that the policeman was inspecting, you can say: “We ask you to accept us one way or another ”, and they could not refuse. I believe that everyone who has at least one foot out of Russia, which has fallen into the abyss of the country, now in his field – sports, literature, and so on – has one foot in the normal world process, he needs to be pulled out of there by the hand, say: "Thank you" – and provide an opportunity.
Athletes face criminal charges
As sports lawyer Sergey Alekseev explained to The Insider, there is no collective responsibility for federations, so individual officials can be punished. Or the athletes themselves, who, depending on the results of the investigation, may face from a fine to disqualification and criminal punishment.
“The situation requires investigation, but, most likely, the athletes themselves are not to blame in this situation, because, of course, they were not going to somehow deceive Russia and compete under a false flag. We can only talk about the fact that the athletes were supposed to participate in commercial starts in private, but not to deceive and betray Russia.
Russian sports federations have nothing to do with this situation. They were outside the scope of these actions, and there can be no collective responsibility a priori, and if it is proved that the intention of the athlete covered some offenses in the form of forgery, then only they will bear responsibility. There is no collective responsibility for sports federations and the sports community in the current international and national sports law.
As a legal entity, the sports federation in Syria is also not liable in this situation. We can talk about individual officials who committed this forgery, but due to the presumption of innocence, it is necessary to conduct an investigation, identify those persons whose intent covered this offense, and bring them to justice on an individual basis.
Athletes will be brought individually, if it is proved that they deliberately committed this fraud and knew that it was illegal, then disqualification can be applied to them from the point of view of the sports federations in which they are registered. There will be an investigation by the federations, proceedings in the disciplinary structures of the relevant federation, and if a violation of the disciplinary regulations is revealed, the federation will impose sanctions on the athletes. In addition, since the athletes are in an employment relationship with the CSP, they must obtain the consent of the employer to perform in third-party territories. They did not do this and therefore may incur labor liability in the form of a remark, reprimand or even dismissal. In the event that deliberate forgery is revealed, we can talk about criminal liability.”