Isinbayeva may shift to Monaco

A week after swelling national pride by winning the World pole vault title and defending Russia's anti-gay propaganda law, Yelena Isinbayeva wants to leave her run-down hometown for wealthy Monaco.

In comments that might upset many Russians and President Vladimir Putin, who is trying to whip up patriotism to rally support after protests, the athlete said her long-revered home city of Volgograd was now impoverished and in decline.

"In Volgograd I'll have a lot of commitments but I want to live in Monaco," Isinbayeva was quoted as saying by the Russian newspaper Argumenty i Fakty on Thursday. "What can you do here, in the city, when Volgograd is simply poor? The city has become awful and old. It's deteriorated. The roads are terrible."

Her home city, 900 km south of Moscow, used to be named after former dictator Josef Stalin and is respected by Russians as the site of the 1942-43 Battle of Stalingrad, a turning point against Nazi Germany in World War Two.

But Isinbayeva said the "city of victories" was in need of repairs and development to give people adequate living standards and better sports facilities.

"You simply need to create decent conditions to live here," she said. "In our city we do not have the conditions to live."

She said Putin had congratulated her on her victory in the World Athletics championships in Moscow last week. But her comments highlighting the lack of sports facilities and other infrastructure in Volgograd are unlikely to please him.