Oleg Stepko’s current coach Vladimir Kochnev confirmed to TASS that ex-Azerbaijani/Ukranian gymnast will receive Russian citizenship very soon. This will allow Stepko to compete at the Russian championships in April and to try out for the Russian national team.
Stepko moved to Novosibirsk and started training with Ivan Stretovich last spring. In June 2017, he said that he might go to the July’s training camp at Round Lake. It seems that the Russian artistic gymnastics federation decided not to bring him and did not help him to obtain Russian citizenship or to get an official release from Azerbaijan (Stepko’s FIG license for Azerbaijan expires on March 18). If the federation assisted him, the citizenship process would be much shorter. Considering that it took him almost a year to get it, he likely applied for the simplified naturalization procedure that allows Russian speakers from the FSU countries to receive Russian citizenship within a year after moving to Russia. In most cases, this procedure also requires renouncing the previous citizenship.
According to his coach, Stepko is doing it the hard way – he will represent Siberian Federal Region at the Russian Championships in April and hope to catch the attention of the national team coaches. If that doesn’t work he’ll go to the Russian Cup in July.
Kochnev said to TASS:
“The long process of getting the Russian citizenship is almost complete, we’re expecting for him to receive the [Russian] passport. After that, Oleg plans to compete at the Russian championships. If he’ll be able to show himself, there’s no reason for him not to vie for a place on the Russian national team. If the national team coaches will need him – that’s the most important thing”.
“The final decision will be taken by the coaches while we continue working. Even if he won’t be able to fully realize his potential in the spring, there’s still the summer Russian Cup in the store after which the final selection for the Euros in August will be done”.
“His FIG license given to him when he competed for Azerbaijan ends on March 18. If the Russian national team coaches will be interested in this gymnast, then the Russian gymnastics federation will have to deal with the paperwork”.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian media are not happy with this news. They have been reporting on it since Stepko’s appearance in the tv show about Ukrainians competing for other countries. The coverage in various news outlets has been less than favorable, calling Stepko “traitor” and “turncoat“.
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