On July 17, Russian athlete Yelena Isinbayeva, holder of several world records in pole vaulting, who moved to Tenerife, announced on social media that she was a "citizen of the world" and was resuming her work in the International Olympic Committee. The statement by the athlete, who was a trusted person of the president, caused a negative reaction from everyone - both former comrades and the opposition.
41-year-old Yelena Isinbayeva is a native of Volgograd, but in the Caucasus she is considered one of their own, since her father is a Tabasaran from Southern Dagestan. During her career, she set 28 world records, is a two-time Olympic champion (2004, 2008), a bronze medalist of the 2012 Games, a three-time world champion, and a four-time winner of the world indoor championships. Isinbayeva signed a contract for military service in the railway troops of the Russian Federation in 2003. Two years later, she was awarded the rank of senior lieutenant. In 2008, after a successful performance at the Olympics in Beijing, the athlete received the rank of captain. In May 2015, Isinbayeva became a major and signed a new contract for a period of 5 years with the Russian Armed Forces, which was signed by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. "I am incredibly happy to return to the ranks of CSKA, whose capabilities are limitless, and our goals and ambitions coincide," said Isinbayeva, who was appointed to the military position of track and field instructor at the Central Sports Club of the Army. In 2012, she was officially registered as a trusted person of presidential candidate Vladimir Putin, who was then the Chairman of the Russian Government. In November 2017, she joined the Putin Team movement. In January 2020, she was included in the working group on amendments to the Constitution. Opposition politician Leonid Volkov described this activity as follows: "she gave away her real, well-deserved authority to Putin for a small price." In 2013, Yelena Isinbayeva founded her own charity foundation, whose work is aimed at developing mass sports and sports for children with disabilities. Since 2016, she has been a member of the International Olympic Committee.
After the start of the invasion of Ukraine, the FBK included Isinbayeva in its list of "warmongers" and sent information about her connections with Vladimir Putin to the Spanish authorities - where the athlete lives. On February 26, 2023, Ukraine added her to the sanctions list of "representatives of the Russian sports sphere who are trying to put sports at the service of aggression." In late June, the IOC Ethics Committee began an investigation into Isinbayeva. According to Meduza, there were two criteria for the investigation: "active support" of the military actions in Ukraine, as well as contractual obligations to the Russian army. The IOC emphasized that they would only consider the period after February 24, 2022. In July, the investigation was completed, and the IOC Ethics Committee found no violations. "Today, I am happy to announce that I will resume my international activities in the IOC as early as September 2023, since the IOC has no doubts about me and I do not fall under any articles or sanctions," Isinbayeva wrote on VKontakte on July 17. In the same post, she stated that she “never served in the Russian Armed Forces, but simply played for the CSKA sports club… The titles that are being talked about today are nominal… She was also never a State Duma deputy or a member of any party.”