OREANDA-NEWS  The president of the All-Russian Federation of Rhythmic Gymnastics (VFCG), Irina Viner, says that planned sporting events between Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) nations will not be at a level inferior to the Olympic Games.

Russia is banned from most sporting competitions due to an International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommendation made when the military operation in Ukraine was launched in late February.

But as confirmed by Viner on Monday, Russia is currently in contact with the members of the SCO, BRICS nations, and other countries “who treat us in a friendly and respectful manner.”

“We are now changing our guidelines,” Viner said. “We must hold as many competitions in our country as possible, which we are doing.”

“All the world tournaments took place with us in past years, now we are making them open in Russia. They have a fairly decent representation of various athletes from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, India, China, Mexico, Syria, Belarus.

“In addition to this, all regions of our country cultivate and practice rhythmic gymnastics. We have never had so many countries at the World Championships, and each region of Russia is like a whole country both in terms of territory and skill level. 

“When we hold the Russian Cup, the Russian Championship, or club competitions, we have a huge representation of different regions. This is comparable to the World Cup. The competition is very strong, and if we still have different countries present at these competitions, then this will be the Olympic Games,” Viner added.

“We can call them differently: The SCO Games, the BRICS Games. Another community to which we will be related, but they will not be at a lower [level] than where we are not allowed now.” 

On Monday, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko noted that the potential audience for the Games of the SCO countries is 4 billion people, given the combined population.

“You see the number of participants, the potential audience of the population involved is four billion people. Just our future, and not the segment that serves the International Olympic Committee – [which is] about a billion. 

“This, of course, is a shame, but I think that everything will return to normal,” he added.

Chernyshenko was praised by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who suggested the creation of a sporting association for SCO members on September 16.

On Monday, Putin complimented the deputy PM for managing to organize new events as compensation for the sports bans that Russians face in the international arena.