The points made in this article are quite cogent. I wonder if there will be a response from Zhillina or Plushenko. I assume not. On the one hand it is easy to feel poorly for Zhillina, on the other hand it seems there was rather an attempt to slide past official rules that nobody else was. In a rather arrogant way, frankly. It was not a particularly impressive attempt. I wonder to what degree Zhillina herself can be held accountable for this. Likely not much. Which is a shame. She should have been competing in Russia and enjoying her career. There are many athletes in Russia who would fair amazingly, if not win gold medals, internationally, who struggle to podium in Russia, yet still they did not participate in any scheme to leave the competition. It should be quite obvious that you cannot register as a member of the national team, national competitions and receive funding for it while withdrawing a couple days before each start. I am quite in shock anyone in the know was expecting her to be let go under such conditions.
In any case the article above seems quite irrefutable regarding the AZBJ citizenship requirements. I do not know how it would make any sense for someone to compete for a country under such circumstances.