Mazepin intends to seek measures against countries that refuse Russian athletes visas.

Dmitry Mazepin, the head of the United Aquatics Federation of Russia, said in an interview with Izvestia on April 14 that he would seek action from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) against countries that refuse to issue visas to Russian athletes to participate in international competitions.

"We will work with this, moreover, our athletes already have visas. It is clear that for some they are short, for others they are long, but this is probably a bigger question for our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which should ensure that Russian athletes travel abroad," Mazepin said.

He stressed that in case of further violations, the federation will inform the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and demand that countries that ignore the rights of Russian athletes be deprived of the right to host international competitions.

Now with the IOC: Russia accelerates its return to world sport

Sports authorities expand Russians' access to competitions

On April 13, World Aquatics allowed Russian athletes to compete with a flag and an anthem. President Al-Musallam said that over the past three years, the federation has successfully helped to avoid conflicts outside of sports competitions.

Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev welcomed the decision of World Aquatics to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in all international aquatics competitions on an equal basis with other athletes — in national uniforms, with a flag and anthem, and called it the fruit of international dialogue.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.