The commander of the Russian Army and well-known international athlete Yelena Isinbáyeva, sanctioned by the President of Ukraine Volodimir Zelenki for her links with the Russian military regime, arrived on May 30 at Canary Islands on a cargo plane from Turkey that legally entered the southern airport of Tenerife. Since then she has lived with her husband, Nikita Petinov, and his two children, in a luxury residence in Arona. It must be remembered that Isinbáyeva was awarded the Prince of Asturias award in 2009 [hoy Princesa de Asturias] in the modality of sports.
This was announced yesterday by Digital del Sur, which also made public several photos in which the Olympic athlete could be seen walking through the streets of southern Tenerife. The National Police has reported this information to the central headquarters in Madrid so that they know her current whereabouts, since, until a few months ago, it was unknown.
Yelena Isinbáyeva (Volgograd, Russia, 1982) not only has behind her a long and fruitful career as an Olympic athlete, but she has also maintained an important participation in the policy country military. In 2015 she was promoted and decorated as a commander [Mayor en Rusia] of the Russian Army. The Ministry of Defense decided to honor the double Olympic champion and world record holder for the sporting successes she had achieved throughout her career. Isinbayeva is reportedly currently active as an officer in the Russian Defense Ministry, although there are doubts about the latter. In the latest statements by the IOC spokesman, Mark Adams, collected in gazeta.ru, he neither affirms nor denies it.
Isinbáyeva is an athlete specialized in pole vaulting, Olympic, world and European champion of this event. She has broken the women’s pole vault world record a total of 28 times, 15 outdoors and 13 indoors. She holds the outdoor (5.06 m), Olympic (5.05 m) and world championships (5.01 m) pole vault world records. In fact, many consider her one of the best pole vaulters in history.
The invasion takes its toll
Despite his retirement, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has taken its toll on him. On February 27, 2023, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, imposed sanctions against 164 natural persons and 85 legal persons of the Russian Federation for “supporting a large-scale Russian invasion of the country”, approving the corresponding decision of the National Council of Security and Defense (NSDC). On the list were several Russian athletes belonging to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), including Isinbáyeva. According to Zelenski, the athlete was part of the “representatives of the Russian sports sector who try to put sport at the service of aggression.”
This sanction has caused the Russian military and athlete to have since been banned from entering Ukraine and that all her assets have been confiscated. The athlete, she faced an ethics verification process, but on June 23, 2023, the process was resolved in her favor, allowing her to continue on the Olympic committee.
His relationship with Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, goes back a long way. In 2012, she became his confidant in the presidential election and in November 2017, she joined the ‘Putin Team’ movement. In January 2020, Isinbáyeva was included in the working group on reforms to the Russian constitution to allow Putin to remain in power indefinitely. ‘Putin Team’ is a social movement launched in 2017 by NHL player Alexander Ovechkin to support Putin’s 2018 presidential campaign.
military bonding
On different occasions he has shown himself in favor of exalting the Russian national spirit and champions the memory of Russian history. In fact, in a post on his social networks on February 20, 2018, he published the following comment: “Dear Yunarmists! Already this week there will be an important event for the entire Yunarmey family. 8,000 participants from all over Russia will come together to participate in 11 educational and interactive platforms. “The Yunarmiya movement is ready to become a unifying platform for hundreds of thousands of young people to help everyone show their talents and fulfill themselves. unite!”
The movement he was referring to is the All-Russian National Military Patriotic Social Movement Association of the All-Russian ‘Young Army’, which is sometimes transliterated as Yunarmiya, YAM. This youth organization, founded in October 2015, is supported and financed by the Russian Ministry of Defense (MOD) with the mission of training future service personnel uniformed Russians and to instill the values of patriotism, national service, national and military history, the remembrance of past military operations and campaigns and the fallen of its armed forces, and to help develop the country as its growth grows. population.
The journalist Sergei Shelin, in an article published on June 14, 2023 in the Russian Post, highlighted that “Isinbayeva is one of the most hateful praisers of Putin and all his exploits. The entire biography of her makes the point that insensitivity and cynicism are not seen as bad things in Russia ».
