Anastasiia Kirpichnikova left Russia to become a member of France's swimming team ©Getty Images

Russian Deputy Sports Minister Alexei Morozov has spoken of his "regret and loss" after it was revealed that almost 70 athletes had changed their citizenships following the escalation of the country’s war in Ukraine last year.

According to Russia’s official state news agency TASS, a total of 67 Russian athletes had switched their allegiance to another country since the beginning of 2022.

The Russian Sports Ministry revealed that 47 of those competed in Summer Olympics sports along with eight in Winter Olympic sports and 12 in non-Olympic sports.

Athletes from Russia and Belarus were largely cast into the sporting wilderness after Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Most International Federations imposed an outright ban on Russian and Belarusian participants following recommendations by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The IOC has since rolled back its stance, recommending that they should be readmitted under a neutral banner, provided they do not support the war in Ukraine and are not affiliated with the military.

But several International Federations, including World Athletics, have maintained their bans, while restrictions on Russian and Belarusians team have not been lifted by the IOC.

Among the Russian athletes that have switched their allegiance in recent months are triple European swimming champion Anastasiia Kirpichnikova and Olympic rowing silver medallist Hanna Prakatsen, moving to France and Uzbekistan, respectively.

Morozov said he considered the change of citizenship by any Russian athlete as a blow to the country.

Russian-born rower Hanna Prakatsen, who is now competing for Uzbekistan, is among 67 athletes that have changed their citizenship since full-scale invasion of Ukraine ©Getty Images
Russian-born rower Hanna Prakatsen, who is now competing for Uzbekistan, is among 67 athletes that have changed their citizenship since full-scale invasion of Ukraine ©Getty Images

"We want to raise athletes who will compete for our country," Morozov told TASS.

"We consider this an honourable mission for every athlete who has grown up with us.

"Therefore, for us this is a regret and loss.

"We want athletes to compete, to play as part of the Russian national team, but we don’t make anyone an enemy here, this is a personal choice of each athlete.

"We are in touch with each federation, each change of sports citizenship has its own track.

"This is not an avalanche situation, citizenship was changed before all events.

"I can’t say that these are gigantic numbers, but this is a loss for us.

"We try to communicate with athletes, to convince them that they should compete for their homeland."