All this talk of changing Feds is quite silly, as there is no way the Russian Fed is ever going to release an Olympic Champion
It is much harder for a federation to hold a skater now than it was previously - I can't find the exact release but the presumption is now if a skater asks for a release they get it, and the federation can't just hold on to them for no reason, and you can't end up in a situation like Zahorski. it hasn't been fully tested yet with a federation refusing to release a skater, but I don't think theyd have much of a case claiming I/Z are essential to the health of ice dance in Russia when they haven't been on a World or European team for 2 years. And with Elena, if they did want to switch to Kazakhstan, it's a much stronger case because it's the country she was born in & can already claim citizenship for.
But I'm in two minds about switching - finance could become a problem, at least in Russia they are getting the state funding, even if it's not enough any more to go abroad for training. And yes, they'll probably be off the Olympic team next year (although, if B/S & S/B can somehow get 3 spots back, they still have a shot at it - without the freak costume deduction they would have been 3rd despite the best efforts of the judges with the PCS & GOE, & they have been showing a much stronger technical base than S/K this year, plus we all know S/K are completely volatile in other areas, so who knows what or where they will be next year...). But after 2018, B/S will in all likelihood retire. And who is really coming up after them to challenge? Z/G don't have the basic quality. L/D are good at their level, but he at least is old for juniors - it's like Mc/C & the Parsons, ok you're winning everything at that level, but there are already teams younger than you doing better in seniors. Shpilevaya/Smirnov are OK, but again, nothing special that makes me think they'd be any more impressive than Y/M or H/B were on their junior debut. Then there's a bunch of younger teams like S/A, S/E, P/V, who are decent, but not blowing the world away, and they have to get through growing, deciding to stick with skating as a career, having a good enough relationship (or just no idiot guys like Mozgov) that they don't end up splitting. There is no one like V/M or I/K or P/C or the Shibs that people point to in juniors and say "they definitely have the potential to win senior championship medals". The transition from junior to seniors is HARD, and a lot of teams fall apart for a variety of reasons on the way. Which is a long winded way of saying that after 2018 I still think there is a lot of opportunity for I/Z to take in Russia. And yes there are positives to being the only team repping one country, but there's also a lot of benefits that come from repping a skating power like Russia.
I loved their ex today. So nice to finally have a proper gala program & they still looked really upbeat performing it after everything
