Swimmer Svechnikova's mother told about the problems with finding her son

The mother of Russian swimmer Nikolai Svechnikov, who disappeared while swimming across the Bosphorus, spoke in an interview with Izvestia on October 30 about the problems the family faced during the search for the swimmer.

"We have appealed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (of Russia — Ed.). The Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent us a reply that there was no news. We applied to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the second time. We don't have an answer yet. The Consulate General was contacted in Russia. There is no response yet either. Who's doing what, we don't have an answer either," she told reporters.

The athlete's family is currently in Istanbul. There, the relatives plan to contact diplomats and find out to what extent the investigation is being conducted against the background of spreading information about the allegedly planned termination of the search for the missing Svechnikov.

"We read in the media that they want to stop the search. We want to understand why they want to stop searching and whether there is any result. There were a lot of cameras in the cafe. We also don't know if these chambers have been examined," the swimmer's mother added.

The lawyer with whom the Svechnikov family works claims that searches are underway, however, relatives are not aware of their scope.

"That is, we do not receive information. And we would like to know what is really being done and what is really happening. But at the moment there is no information," the athlete's mother summed up.

According to her, the organizers of the swim did not want to look for a swimmer. Even after the relatives testified, the police told them that they would not be able to organize a search. The Svechnikov family believes that in this way "precious time was lost."

Bosphorus affair: Russian swimmer Nikolai Svechnikov disappeared in Turkey

Three thousand people participated in the competition, Nikolai is the only one who did not finish.

Earlier in the day, the family of the Russian swimmer announced a reward of 500,000 lira (about 950 thousand rubles) for information about his whereabouts. The advisory statement was made after the family found an important witness who was the last to see her son.

Svechnikov disappeared on August 24. A professional swimmer did not reach the finish line across the Bosphorus in Istanbul. After swimming 500-600 m, the athlete disappeared from sight. Honored Master of Sports, world record holder in swimming Nikolai Skvortsov suggested that the man could have been swept away by the current.

On September 24, Svechnikov's mother said that the organizers of the swim were hiding details about her son's disappearance. She noted that there were no recordings from the swim, although filming was underway, there were many correspondents. Before that, on September 20, the swimmer's mother reported that the search for Svechnikov had expanded to the Marmara Sea. According to her, the Red Cross has also joined the search. Before that, Svechnikov's wife blamed the organizers of the swim, in which the Russian participated, for his disappearance.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.