The Ministry of Sports is going to develop bills that will limit the departure abroad of young athletes, including hockey players. The words of Minister Oleg Matitsyn are quoted by RBC.
The Minister was asked a question in connection with President Vladimir Putin’s speech at the sports forum in Perm on October 19. “We need to understand what we should do with these hockey businessmen, who select children from sports schools and drag them abroad,” he said.
“Now we will work on developing regulations together with deputies State Duma,” answered the head of the Ministry of Sports Matitsyn at the same forum. “Let’s see how we can protect the interests of Russian hockey, athletes, coaches and sports schools in order to limit the departure of talented athletes.”
Matitsyn added that the main thing is “to create conditions here that would allow hockey players to realize their talents and receive financial support.”
After Putin’s speech, General Director of the Russian Hockey Federation Dmitry Kurbatov proposed introducing administrative liability for working as a sports agent without a license. The relevant Duma committee has already made a similar proposal in 2021. According to the Law “On Sports”, such licenses for agents are issued by all-Russian sports federations, such as the Hockey Federation itself.