State Duma deputy, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Physical Culture and Sports, Dmitry Svishchev, told Match TV that he was ready to help the Brazilian fighter Walter Walker, who admitted the UFC in the USA in love for Russia, with the receipt of Russian citizenship.

Walker on Saturday at the tournament in Nashville won the first round of Kennedy Nzechukva. The Brazilian went to the fight under the Russian song “Mother Earth”. After the battle, Walker, who is married to a Russian girl, turned to the fans in Russian and confessed his love for Russia.

“We want to congratulate him.” The representative of such a distant country as Brazil, living in Russia, was still imbued with our country, our homeland, apparently, even fell in love with it. Quite often, when foreigners come for a short while to Russia and remain forever, they begin to love the Russian soul, nature, earth. It is very pleasant that this is related to sports, with the UFC. You can only congratulate him.

This is largely due to the fact that he has a Russian wife and Russian children with Brazilian blood. We understand why we love Russia, and here we see that representatives of other countries also love Russia, because they live, work, perform, create families, give birth to children. There is nothing surprising for me personally, so we live in this country.

– How do you like the idea to give him Russian citizenship?

– Of course, citizenship should be issued according to all the rules. If he meets all criteria for obtaining citizenship, and if he has a desire to obtain Russian citizenship, then why not? If a person, first of all, proves this to his love for Russia. Even if, according to some criteria, it does not meet, then, it seems to me, you can meet. Because such people need to be encouraged and motivated. Not all our fighters come out with national and folk songs, and here a person from another continent has come under our national hit and confessed to the love of Russia. Therefore, you can meet.

The most important thing is whether he has a desire. In addition to love, there are still many criteria that are necessary: personal motivation, desire and others. If he has such a desire, and he will turn to our fraction of the deputy corps, then I think we will consider and maybe even turn to the relevant authorities with a request to help, ”Svishchev said“ Match TV ”.

Walker is a native of Brazil, in 2019 he moved to Russia. Now he lives and trains in Moscow. In mixed martial arts, he won 14 victories with one defeat.

See direct broadcasts of UFC tournaments on the channels “Match TV” and “Match! Fighter ”, as well as Matchtv.ru and Sportbox.ru sites.