The key facts
- Yelena Isinbayeva has been included in the GUR of Ukraine database on the War & Sanctions portal
- Among the grounds are her role as Putin's trusted representative in the 2012 and 2018 elections and her work on the constitutional amendments in 2020
- The same section of the database lists 29 track and field athletes and three coaches
What happened
Two-time Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva, who has been living with her family in Spain for several years, has been added to the database of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine's Ministry of Defence. The athlete's data was published on the War & Sanctions portal, which lists her public and political activities in Russia and ties to military structures as grounds for inclusion, reports Life.ru.
What grounds are cited
The compilers of the list pointed to Isinbayeva's participation in Vladimir Putin's presidential election campaigns as a trusted representative in 2012 and 2018, as well as her work in 2020 on the working group preparing amendments to the Russian Constitution. Her military career was noted separately: in 2015 she received the rank of major and worked as a track and field instructor at CSKA. She was also blamed for her membership on the board of the Voskresenie (Resurrection) charitable foundation, which took part in fundraising for the construction of the main cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces.
Context and other individuals
After moving to the Spanish island of Tenerife, Isinbayeva stated that the ranks she received while competing for CSKA were nominal; these remarks drew criticism from a number of Russian politicians and public figures. Besides her, the relevant section of the database includes 29 track and field athletes and three coaches, among them European javelin champion Vera Rebrik, world championship bronze medallist Dmitry Tarabin, and European pole vault silver medallist Timur Morgunov. Earlier, the same outlet reported that Alexander Ovechkin and four more Russian hockey players were added to the GUR database — Vyacheslav Fetisov, Pavel Bure, Andrei Kovalenko and Ivan Fedotov; the resource's authors justified their inclusion by their political views and public activities.
Isinbayeva's sporting achievements
Isinbayeva is one of the most decorated athletes in the history of pole vaulting: Olympic gold at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, and bronze at the London Games in 2012. The world record she set in 2009 — 5.06 metres — remains unbroken to this day.
