Despite the hopes of world sports leaders, the change of citizenship by Russian athletes has not become widespread. However, such news does arrive from time to time. For obvious reasons, there are much fewer counter-examples, but they do exist.

Thus, the famous fighter Konstantin Glukhov has been in our country for several months and has not given up trying to obtain a Russian passport.

There is every reason

True, Konstantin’s path to his dream was not easy. Back in February of this year, he changed his native Riga to Moscow. His wife and daughter moved with him. In June, Glukhov received political asylum and intended to apply for Russian citizenship, but encountered bureaucratic difficulties.

Glukhov was not even helped by the fact that his wife is a Russian citizen. In desperation, he recorded a video message in which he complained about bureaucratic delays. Konstantin’s cry of despair spread across the Internet, after which well-known federal journalists contacted him. Later, some published part of the correspondence with the athlete.

— Departments and departments send to each other. I can’t even get a free consultation on where we should start. What should I do? What documents should I collect? Where to go? — this message from the athlete was shared by journalist Andrei Medvedev.

The situation attracted the attention of law enforcement agencies. The official representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, Irina Volk, noted in her telegram channel that the heads of the migration department have already contacted the Glukhov family. A preliminary check showed that Konstantin has all the grounds to obtain citizenship. Now we are studying the documents and developing the optimal solution.

Non-trivial case

Glukhov came to Russia on a temporary visa, which expired back in March. Moreover, his stay is legal, since he has received political asylum. But this status does not suit the athlete.

– This is a purple passport, everyone looks at it with surprise. I was thinking about getting either a residence permit or citizenship. But in general I think: “Well, what kind of residence permit? I have long felt like a citizen of Russia, because I am Russian, I live in Russia.” I always said that Russians should live in Russia, this is home,” Glukhov told Match TV.

Konstantin Glukhov / Photo: © Personal archive of Konstantin Glukhov

In the Latvian passport, the MMA fighter is indicated with the ending “s” – Konstantins Glukhovs. Having moved to Russia, he is forced to use the Baltic version of his first and last name. But now the matter is nearing completion: this week the man must write an application for Russian citizenship. The case, by the way, is non-trivial.

“Andrei Medvedev told me that this is the first time in several months that a person from an EU country comes for a Russian passport,” the athlete told Match TV.

Tyrant coach

The immigration of heavyweight fighter Konstantin Glukhov, of course, attracts attention. But even without it, the athlete’s biography is worthy of film adaptation.

The titled athlete made a name for himself in universal combat and kickboxing in his youth, winning world, European and Asian championships. Then the Latvian with Russian roots went into mixed martial arts, where he even fought with Alexander Emelianenko.

At the same time, Glukhov received literally pennies for his fights. His trainer Yuri Ryzhikov took all the income, leaving the fighter a minimum for food and gasoline. Later, Konstantin admitted that he experienced zombies, abandonment of loved ones and even drug addiction, while the coach was basking in luxury. For example, Glukhov was entitled to 10 thousand dollars for the fight with Emelianenko, but he received only 400 dollars in his hands – Ryzhikov took the rest. Essentially, Constantine was in slavery.

The idea that something was wrong here came to the athlete after meeting his future wife. She didn’t understand why a successful fighter begs for money from a coach. At that time, Konstantin was 34 years old.

“We had just met then; she came to me for the first time from Ukraine to Latvia. Anya saw that I had gone to ask the coach for money and asked: “Kostya, what’s going on? You fight and earn this money, and then you go begging for food?” And I began to use my brain at least a little,” Glukhov admitted in an interview with Match TV in 2019.

Konstantin Glukhov / Photo: © Personal archive of Konstantin Glukhov

After the intervention of his future wife, Konstantin began to take the fees for himself, and then completely broke off relations with Ryzhikov, despite his indignation. The fighter’s business went uphill, and a career in the UFC even loomed on the horizon. But it never came to fights in the American promotion – Glukhov became seriously ill and lost weight. I even had to undergo surgery and then treat complications in the liver and stomach. Fortunately, all health problems are left behind.

Glukhov’s family lived for some time in his wife’s homeland in Kharkov, and then moved to Riga. Now Konstantin is in Moscow with his wife and daughter and is waiting for a decision on Russian citizenship. Only formalities remain, and the athlete hopes that they will be quickly resolved in his favor.