The opportunity to play for the Estonian national team was rejected due to lack of assistance in obtaining citizenship, Russian national team player Evgeniy Kharin said on June 6, according to an interview with the athlete published on the Match portal.
“I had that opportunity. I played in the Infonet team, the second or third coach of the Estonian national team came and asked me if I wanted to play for the Estonian national team. I said, “Yes, can you help me with the documents?” They told me I had to do everything myself. I said, “Well, excuse me then.”Jarin said.
Born in Maardu, a suburb of the Estonian capital, Kharin said that his parents had Russian citizenship, and he himself, upon turning 18, did not bother to take the exams to obtain Estonian citizenship, but instead received a Russian passport.
This story did not go unnoticed by the Estonian media, some of which reprinted Jarin’s statements, wondering why a native of the republic plays for the Russian national team. Recall that Evgeniy Kharin played for the teams of the top league of the Estonian championship “Infonet” and “Levadia”. In 2018, the footballer moved to Russia, where he plays for Akhmat Grozny, and recently received an invitation to the national team.
It should also be noted that the captain of the Estonian national football team, Konstantin Vasiliev, was literally expelled from both his position and the team after he allowed himself to speak neutrally on the SVO issue.
It is also worth noting that changing citizenship is quite common among athletes who believe they can achieve more by competing under a foreign flag. In this case, we are talking about an athlete with Russian citizenship by birth, who returned to the continent from the former Soviet republic that broke away during the collapse of the USSR.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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