MOSCOW, April 26, Andrey Simonenko. Winner of two gold, one silver and one Olympic bronze medal, Russian figure skater Nikita Katsalapov, who performs in a dance duet with Victoria Sinitsina, said that he and his partner have not received and will not receive offers to change citizenship in order to compete in international tournaments, as they do not need it. On Tuesday, the Russian president Vladimir Putin awarded Katsalapov with the Order of Honor, and Sinitsina with the Order of Friendship. Currently, Russian figure skaters have been suspended from performing at international tournaments. «No, and they won't,» Katsalapov told reporters, answering a question about whether they had any proposals to change sports citizenship. «We don't need this, we always support our country, carry our own flag and sing our anthem.» In difficult times of sanctions, according to the skater, «sport and faith in justice» give strength to overcome them. “We have been doing sports all our lives, it is our life. When something is taken away from us, and we have to go through difficulties, none of our team is going to give up, we will help our Russian sport develop,” Katsalapov said. We are a great sports power and we must develop ourselves so that those people who put up obstacles for us understand that world sport cannot exist without Russia. “We need our own championship series, including with the participation of foreign athletes, if they so wish. We have not closed the doors to anyone, we are open, competitions in Russia are always held at the highest level, absolutely all athletes note this,” concluded two-time Olympic champion.
