Frits Brink, President of the FAI, made a visit to Russia in September to maintain the FAI's longstanding relationship with Russia in a series of meetings with fellow air sports executives.

A highlight of the trip was to visit Kemerovo, Siberia, where the Mondial 2020 will be held. The image above was taken following the meeting at the Kemerovo region government building and shows left to right: Andrey Barabash - President of Federation of Parachute Sport of Russia, Sergey Tsivilev - Governor of Kemerovo region, Gillian Rayner - President of the FAI Parachuting Commission, Frits Brink - FAI President and Denis Sviridov - Chief of Staff and Vice-President of Federation of Parachute Sport of Russia. The visitors discussed interesting developments such as the construction of a wind tunnel for indoor skydiving. The organisers hope that the Kemerovo event will become the largest in the history of the competition.

Brink commented: “I was delighted to be back in Russia and very pleased with the success of this visit. Russia is a nation with a great sense of hospitality and we very much look forward to working together to organise future air sports events such as the Mondial 2020.”

He added: "Russia has a long history of organising successful aviation events, teamed with a strong interest and participation record in air sports across all types of disciplines."

In Moscow, Sergey Ananov, the recently-elected President of Russian Air Sports Federation and Denis Sviridov, Vice President of the Parachuting Federation of Russia, organised a meeting with the Minister of Sport of the Russian Federation, Pavel Kolobkov to discuss air sports in Russia.

Kolobkov (shown left) remarked to Brink (right) that: “It is prestigious for us to host such large-scale competitions such as the World Parachuting Championships, which will promote parachute and other aviation sports.”

Russia will organise 127 national air sports competitions and 14 international air sports events in the year to come, and Brink was also welcomed at a meeting of all the Presidents of the various air sports federations in Russia.

Aeromodelling is also popular in Russia, and at the Moscow Olympic Centre in Khimki, Brink visited 2018 MAI Cup, as part of the F2D Combat Model Aircraft World Cup. 

Photo shows from left to right: Vladimir Ivanov (President of Honour of the Russian Air Sports Federation), Fits Brink (President of the FAI), Sergey Ananov (President of the Russian Air Sports Federation), Igor Trifonov (Vice-President of the Russian Aeromodelling Federation and the organiser of the 2018 MAI cup)

Photo credits: Top image: Federation of Parachute Sport of Russia; Brink and Kolobkov: Vladimir Gerdo / TASS; Ivanov, Brink, Ananov & Trifonov: Igor Trifonov, Russian Federation of Model Aircraft