"At Baltika, we play for an idea"

Kaliningrad "Baltika" became the main sensation of last year in Russian football. In the spring, she won the first league tournament by a wide margin and returned to the RPL after a break in the season, where she suffered only one defeat in 18 matches during the first part of the Russian championship and is in fifth place, only five points behind the leading Krasnodar. Andrei Talalaev's team is currently at the training camp, where they are preparing for the spring part of the season. Mingiyan Beveev, who joined the team from Ural Yekaterinburg in the summer, became one of the leaders.

In the fall, he was called up to the Russian national team and made his debut for it, coming on as a substitute at the end of the match with Iran (2-1). Then he played half-time against Bolivia (3:0) and Peru (1:1), and played the meeting with Chile (0:2) completely. In an interview with Izvestia, Beveev told that he was given games for the national team, declared his desire to bring historical success to Baltika and told about his favorite places in his native Kalmykia.

"Buddhism in Kalmykia influenced me"

— How did you spend your vacation?

— I went home to Kalmykia. I also had a vacation in the Maldives, and celebrated the New Year in Kaliningrad.

— Which part of your native Kalmykia did you go to? To Elista or your native village of Verkhny Yashkul?

—To Elista." The last time I was in my native village was about two years ago. He's already very, very small - everyone is moving to the city.

— For those who live in the rest of Russia and have never been to Kalmykia, the region is primarily associated with City Chess, which was built in the 1990s and opened with great fanfare by the then President of the republic and the president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Where would you recommend those who come to Elista for the first time to go?

— We are currently hosting an International Buddhist Forum. The center of Elista has been improved to it, and a pedestrian zone has been created. There is a hurul of Buddha Shakyamuni. There is a Stupa in the city center. In general, I advise everyone to go — the Republic of Kalmykia is changing, especially in spring, when there will be tulips. There are places with lotuses in the republic — you can go and see them. You can go boating and horseback riding.

— Does the fact that Kalmykia has historically been considered the main center of Buddhism in Russia affect the personality of a person who was born and raised there?

— It has a mental effect, but not to the extent that everyone there is fluffy and white (smiles). I was generally influenced by the fact that there is faith — you can't choose here. Of course, I went to khurul and prayed — this is a place of strength and tranquility.

— Uralan, which played in the top league for several seasons, was disbanded 20 years ago, and since then there has been no professional football in Elista. But you were seven years old when the club, led by Igor Shalimov and Denis Kolodin, played its last season in the Premier League. Did you attend the team's matches then? Did you get autographs from any of the iconic figures of that era?

— I was probably at a couple of matches in the Premier League then. But I remember 2006 more, when in the second league I brought Oleg Veretennikov onto the field (FC Elista, created instead of the disbanded Uralan, played in the second league against Rotor, for which Veretennikov played. — Ed.). I even still have a picture of him at home. It was already the second league, but serious battles happened. For Elista, the games with Volgograd and Astrakhan were crucial.

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"You can learn a lot in the national team"

— You turned 30 at the end of November, just after the last match of the Russian national team this year. Valery Karpin has explained the concept more than once since 2022: while the national team is not at official competitions, field players no older than 30 will be called up to it. Has anyone from the coaching staff discussed with you whether there will be an exception for you?

- no. And I didn't ask—it's none of my business, it's not up to me to decide. There is also a need to prove yourself so that you can at least get on the expanded list of the national team for the next training camp.

— What did the autumn matches for the national team give you?

— Experience. It's a great experience, great emotions, and a great honor when you play internationally against good opponents. There is a lot to learn here. Moreover, you have good partners in the national team.

— How much does the level of the national teams of Iran, Bolivia, Peru and Chile, which you played against in the fall, differ from the RPL clubs that you usually face?

— Probably, these are just integral teams. It is clear that each team has the best players of its country. Those who solve the episode are punished for mistakes. This is an indicator when they don't need many chances and they can score one goal from one episode.

"I wanted to play football, not throw outs"

— The outs in your performance were admired back in the fall, although after them Baltika did not score, but simply created a sharpness. But when one of these throws turned out to be the winning goal against Spartak, it became one of the features of the RPL of the first part of the season. How did you come to this?

— Yes, I also threw far in previous teams, and we played them, something was squeezed out of it. But we can say that it was at Baltika that this was particularly developed. From my personal outs, the team scored three goals, which is about 10% in the championship. Here, in general, the coaching staff suggests how to use it, everything is played out in training. Everything works out so that the guys score because everyone is in their position. I would say separately about Vanya Belikov, who, after my shots from the outfield, often won the upper hand and made discounts, which, in particular, scored goals for Krasnodar and Spartak. Vanya has such anthropometric qualities that he probably made my outs a little better. So their effectiveness is due to Belikov. And the whole team as a whole.

— So all your casts are meaningful? There is no such thing that it is just important to get to the penalty area, and then — how will it turn out?

— Of course, they make sense.

— Rory Delap, who played for Stoke City in the English Premier League, became the first widely known football player associated with throwing the ball out of the box in the 2000s. Did you follow him in his youth?

—Not really. I knew about him, of course. But I probably wanted to play football, not throw outs (laughs).

— Ilya Samoshnikov was such a good player in the RPL a couple of seasons ago. Apart from you, which one of them is better at throwing the ball out — Samoshnikov or Delap?

— Samoshnikov. He just keeps throwing.

"I would not have believed that we would be the fifth to go on a winter break"

— If someone had said in the summer, before the start of the season, that Baltika would lose only one match out of 18 in the championship and go into the winter break fifth, how would they react?

"I wouldn't believe it." But when we started the season, I took it quite calmly. And now I treat our place in the table as something normal.

— There are constant rumors about Baltika this winter that its leaders will go to rich clubs for a lot of money. Vladislav Saus was wooed by the media to CSKA during his entire vacation. Does this kind of talk get on your nerves?

— Well, in football it's normal — people leave and come. Although, of course, we would like our team to strengthen and we would fight for high places. I think we can make history for Kaliningrad, for the region and for Baltika. And to take a place with Baltika, which, maybe, it will repeat next time in 20-30 years. And they will talk about it and remember it. I want to try it here and now.

— Do you want to repeat what Uralan once did in your native Kalmykia, which finished seventh in its debut year in the major league?

— I agree, yes. That team is still loved and remembered at home. Almost 30 years have passed, and they are remembered in Elista.

— Then Kirsan Ilyumzhinov gave the title of Heroes of Kalmykia to three representatives of Uralan. Would you like a similar title from the Kaliningrad region?

—No, not really. Such stories have already ended. I know that then they gave cars for the victory over Spartak. It seems to be the goalkeeper for the missed penalty, the author of the goal and the head coach. But at Baltika, we're playing for an idea.