Athlete Konstantin Glukhov received the passport of the Russian Federation
Photo: Personal archive.
GRANDFATHER FROM STALINGRAD, GRANDMOTHER FROM LENINGRAD
Konstantin Glukhov was born in Riga; His military grandfather served in Latvia after the war. Konstantin’s wife Anna is from Kharkov. When the Northern Military District began and the persecution of everything Russian began, they left first from Ukraine and then from Latvia. We wandered around Europe, tried to settle in Spain and tried all the pleasures of Europe, from dirt in residential areas to cross-dressing in kindergartens. In general, they realized: the only country where they are ready to raise their daughter Patricia (she is now 9 years old) is Russia.
We talked in detail about the fate of this family (see material on the kp.ru website). Anna quickly became Russian; For Ukrainians, a simplified procedure applies. But Konstantin Glukhov, originally from hostile Latvia, had to overcome more than one bureaucratic barrier.
It helped that on January 1 of this year, by Decree of the President of Russia, the concept of “Repatriate” was introduced. For them, participation in the state program of resettlement of compatriots, which has existed for many years, has become even easier.
There are several conditions under which a foreigner can become a repatriate. Among these conditions is the presence of immediate family members who lived in the territory of the RSFSR and are citizens of the USSR.
“My grandfather is from Stalingrad and my grandmother is from Leningrad,” Konstantin says. – So I was the first to receive the repatriation card, right after Christmas. Now, they say, there are a lot of us like that. Applications are sent from the USA, from Europe and from Latin America. But they usually go to the embassy, and here I am, here. That’s probably why I was the first to receive a passport.
Poland’s Damian Grabovsky and Konstantin Glukhov (right) at the international mixed martial arts tournament, 2014. Photo: Alexander Ryumin/TASS
RUSSIAN ATHLETE – PERIOD
In order to become a Russian, Konstantin even took the Russian language exam together with other immigrants. I passed with flying colors. The ceremony to present the Russian passport took place on Bolshaya Ordynka, in the Migration Affairs Department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the capital. No outsiders were allowed to enter the ceremony, but immediately afterward we got in touch with the new Russian.
“It all happened very casually,” he said. “I signed where they showed me and then they gave me my passport. The officer also congratulated me and said that now I can enjoy all the rights of a Russian. Well, in the near future I plan to obtain a TIN, SNILS and other documents. And now I will be able to fight and raise the Russian flag with full rights. Lately I’ve had to dodge it, they announced me as an athlete living in Moscow, or something like that. But now it’s over. I’m a Russian athlete, that’s all.
– Rights come with responsibilities. Just yesterday, the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, complained that new Russian citizens are in no hurry to register for military service. Are you going to go to the military registration and enlistment office?
– To be honest, I haven’t thought about it yet. Nobody told me anything about this. I’ll have to read about it online. But if necessary I will definitely register, as it could not be otherwise. When the SVO started, I even tried to volunteer to fight. We were in Spain then and I thought that this would help me get Russian citizenship. I was not accepted because I was a citizen of a hostile country. Now I don’t know if I can be useful to our army. I’m already 44 years old. But if they call me, I will definitely not shy away from it. I have just taken the oath. I swore “to defend the freedom and independence of the Russian Federation.” And I will fulfill this oath, without a doubt.
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