Traditional wrestling values ​​- Newspaper Kommersant No. 43 (7488) dated 03/15/2023

On Tuesday, United Russia (ER) held the Science of Victory forum with the participation of federal officials and governors. Under the aforementioned “science”, as it turned out, the organizers understand the sambo wrestling, in honor of which United Russia launched the Za Sambo project. It was previously believed that the roots of this wrestling go back to the Japanese art of judo, however, the forum participants explained that this is a purely national wrestling, which carries the Russian ideology, national culture, and patriotic values, and sambo techniques are taken, among other things, from traditional Russian peoples types of wrestling. The plenary session ended with a statement that “if we are for SAMBO, then we are for Vladimir Putin.”

Participants of the party forum, held at the International SAMBO Center near the Luzhniki stadium, were greeted by large banners with the words “Science to win”, a large letter Z and a small EP emblem. The presidium of the plenary session of the forum turned out to be very representative: in addition to Secretary of the General Council of the United Russia Andrei Turchak and Minister of Education Sergei Kravtsov, it included three governors and officials from two more ministries – the Ministry of Sports and the Ministry of Education and Science. Anatoly Kuzichev, the host of the program “Time Will Show” on Channel One, acted as a moderator.

“Maybe it’s strange to quote some Germans from this rostrum, but excuse me, I’ll quote Bismarck, who once remarked about the Franco-Prussian war that this war was won by a history teacher,” Mr. Kuzichev opened the plenary session. Despite the ambiguity of this statement (among historians, the opinion prevails that this phrase belongs to a certain professor of geography from Leipzig), many participants immediately began to prove that SAMBO coaches are in no way inferior to history teachers.

“Sambo is more than a sport, it is a part of our national culture, a system of cultivating the best qualities of a person, a true citizen of his country. The main thing Sambo teaches is the science of winning. The more people pass through this school, the stronger and more stable our society and the country as a whole will be, ”Andrey Turchak proclaimed, promising that with the assistance of the EP in Russia, 500 martial arts halls will be opened annually. At the same time, he thanked Sergey Kravtsov “on behalf of sambists”, who approved the inclusion of sambo in the educational module of school physical education lessons.

The Minister of Education himself recalled that the year of the teacher and mentor is now passing in Russia, and on this occasion he thanked the coaches along with the teachers. After that, he told in detail how his department promotes the development of sports circles in schools, where, among other things, SAMBO is taught. “We perceive sambo as a way of forming a personality, as a way of forming civilian military-patriotic values, as an opportunity to stand up for defense, an opportunity to fight back, an opportunity, together with our fellow comrades, if necessary, to defend the motherland and its interests,” he did not lag behind the previous speaker, Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education Dmitry Afanasiev. And Deputy Minister of Sports Odes Baysultanov, speaking about the work of his department in the new regions of the Russian Federation, assured that the “language of sports” is clear to everyone: “It is through it that you can quickly establish normal human contacts, learn history, the only true history of the state, and not invented by idle Western historians.

The governors also picked up the baton of praises for SAMBO. Thus, the head of Bashkiria, Radiy Khabirov, said that he considers sambo to be “his” sport, since its creators took a lot from the traditional martial arts of the peoples of the Russian republics, including the Bashkir. The head of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhaev, added that sambo is “our ideology, and moral education, and patriotic education,” and suggested that schools be equipped with wrestling mats as part of the overhaul program for schools. Finally, the acting head of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin, boasted that even in Mariupol sambo halls had already appeared and there was a demand for this sport there: “We know how it is there (in Ukraine.— “b”) formed an attitude towards everything Russian, towards Russia, nevertheless, it immediately began to be in demand. The direct fastening element appeared very visual.

It should be noted that sambo largely grows out of the Japanese judo wrestling. Traditionally in Russia, training in these types of wrestling takes place in the same halls, and many athletes do them in parallel. For example, President Vladimir Putin, according to his official biography, is a master of sports in both judo and sambo. And Andrey Turchak, who identified himself as a sambist, according to the official website of the United Russia, taught judo. Nevertheless, there were no compliments addressed to the foreign “prototype” of Russian wrestling at the meeting.

The work of the forum was summed up by the President of the International Association of Public Associations “European Sambo Federation” and the coordinator of the party project “For Sambo” Sergey Eliseev, who ended his speech on a high political note. “If we speak for SAMBO today, then we speak for Russia. If we speak for Russia, then we speak for Putin. I propose to use all these slogans at the forums,” he called on the audience. “For SAMBO, for Russia, for Putin!” the hall obediently responded.

Andrey Vinokurov