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Vladimir Putin and Stanislav Pozdnyakov discussed various aspects of the organisation’s activities and the current situation in Russian sports.

Stanislav Pozdnyakov was elected head of the Russian Olympic Committee in May 2018.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Pozdnyakov, first of all, I would like to congratulate you on your election to such a prominent and important position – President of the Russian Olympic Committee. I wish you every success.

In recent years, much has been accomplished in Russian sports. We have achieved major outstanding results and victories, which is evident from the ongoing FIFA World Cup and our previous achievements.

However, there are many challenges in Russian sports as well. I strongly hope that your expertise and your sports background will make it possible for us to take the next steps in organising Russian sports. To do so, it is imperative to work with the federations, the Ministry of Sport, the Government, nonprofit organisations and the public in the broadest sense of the word, as well as with the media and, of course, our colleagues from foreign countries, including the International Olympic Committee.

President of the Russian Olympic Committee Stanislav Pozdnyakov: Thank you very much, Mr President, for your congratulations. It is a great honor for me to lead the Russian Olympic Committee. As someone who has devoted his entire life to sports, in various ways, I saw notable success in this sector, and would like to thank you personally for the systematic and attentive approach to promoting sports.

And one more thing: I would like to congratulate you and all Russian people, all fans, on the successful start of the World Cup – the event itself and the two wins of our national football team.

Vladimir Putin: Now we have results in other areas as well.

Stanislav Pozdnyakov: Yes, we have things to be proud of. The European Fencing Championships finish today, with six out of the 12 gold medals won by our athletes.

Of course, this is a credit to all of us, to the systematic training of our teams. I am ready to use one of the models I used in my previous job, while training our fencers, in my work at the Russian Olympic Committee.

Of course, as you have noted, the Olympic Committee’s international activities are a priority of ours. In this sense, the Committee serves as an institute of sport diplomacy. After the Russian Olympic Committee’s rights were reinstated at the end of February, or main task is of course to win back the trust of our international partners in the Olympic Committee itself and the activities we are engaged in.

Now we are preparing a number of proposals for the International Olympic Committee department – the Olympic Solidarity Commission – with a package of events that we are ready to implement in Russia jointly with the International Olympic Committee.

Preparations for the Olympic Games are the second important issue: Tokyo-2020 it is not as far off as it seems. Of course, we should work on this consistently, as a team, with the Sports Ministry and other agencies, and not forget that, although the Winter Olympics were held in Pyeongchang this year, the next Winter Olympics will take place in Beijing in four years. And, of course, we need to consider how we prepare for the Olympics in Beijing now.

In other words, we have many important tasks that, of course, will require your support and, as I mentioned, your attention to this area – sports.

Vladimir Putin: We will get to work. I wish you success.

Stanislav Pozdnyakov: Thank you.

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