The partial mobilization that began the other day will affect several hundred thousand Russians of various professions. Athletes are no exception here – among the well-known and not too well-known athletes to the general public, there are enough people who fit the criteria published by the Ministry of Defense.

Some of them have already received summons, others intend to come to the draft board on demand.

“I’m going to the military enlistment office one of these days”

One of the first who received a summons and announced that he was going to the draft board was MMA fighter Vladimir Mineev. The champion of AMC Fight Nights has already appeared in front of the audience in the beret of the Airborne Forces to the song “The blue splashed”, and the fact that the 32-year-old Russian belongs to the airborne troops is known to fans of mixed martial arts. However, the news that a professional athlete is ready to go to the front still came as a surprise to many.

– I received a summons, I’m going to the draft board the other day. My brother died at the very beginning of the SVO in Gostomel. I am one man left for four families. Nephews, my family, a daughter from my first marriage, I have one mother and a grandmother. But I’m not going to run. I take a summons and go to the military registration and enlistment office, and there, as the Motherland decides. I fall under the first category, I am a paratrooper, I served a term and a contract, ”Match TV quotes Mineev as saying.

Vladimir Mineev / Photo: © AMC FIGHT NIGHTS

Vladimir is not the only martial arts representative who will have to change his sports uniform to a military one. President of the Russian Wrestling Federation Mikhail Mamiashvili said that several representatives of the national team had already received summons. However, the head of the FSBR did not name specific names.

“I’ll go without question”

Not only representatives of martial arts are drafted into the armed forces. In the near future, the champion of Russia and the winner of the volleyball Champions League Nikita Alekseev can replenish the troops. It was no coincidence that the 30-year-old diagonal of the Surgut “Gazprom-Yugra” received the agenda – at one time he served in the Crimea, and in the elite troops.

– One fine day I thought: am I a man or not? You have to decide your own life. He came to the draft board and asked to join the special forces, – the volleyball player was quoted by the Krasnaya Zvezda weekly.

Nikita Alekseev / Photo: © Personal archive of Nikita Alekseev

The bronze medalist of Euro 2008 Roman Shirokov served in the construction battalion in the early 2000s and has not yet become interested in the draft board. According to the ex-footballer, he is ready to join the ranks of the armed forces if he receives a summons.

– Did I fall under the law on partial mobilization? Don’t know. I haven’t received anything yet. If it is necessary, then it is necessary, what questions are there. If a summons comes, will I go without question? Of course, – quotes Shirokov Legalbet.

Olympic champion, world champion in artistic gymnastics David Belyavsky spoke in a similar vein.

What to do if a summons arrives? Go to serve, it’s obvious to me. Is there another option? Belyavsky told Match TV.