Isa Alexandrova has kindly translated Alexander's interview word for word. It gives a different emphasis in some places to my summary, and adds some more information, so I wanted readers to have access to this right away. With many thanks to Isa.
1) Alexander didn't quite imply that he is ready to come back to Russia by the end of this year if there is an offer. He said that "it is still hurtful for me to think the way I was treated in 2012. However, enough time had passed, that I was able to better analyze the situation, and I understand that perhaps I did some things not the best way. At that time, I was working for the "final result" and did not pay attention to much else. Mutko and I had a conversation before I left, where he let me know that he didn't want me to leave. Now, the only way I could talk about my coming back is when and if he calls me. I am not going to invite myself back. I am ready to come back to Russia if I am wanted, but I don't see myself working together with the current administation". (A.k.a. Rodionenkos:))) It is imperative that Russian gymnastics will find new and youg coaches, perhaps 30-40 years of age, coaches who are burning with eagerness, who would work tirelessly for the team. And we have many of them throughout the country. I would love to one day return to Russia if the circumstances are right, and would gladly share my rather deep knowledge with them and with my countrymen". Then the journalist states that dad's contract with Brazil is until September 2016, but can be broken by either side at any time.
2) "Aliya is not your everyday gymnast. She had a special temper that is difficult, yet it allows her to compete and win medals. But she needs a special approach and special motivation; only when she is given that, can she bring a huge bonus to the team. If you recall, during the two years right after the Games, she was literally dragging the team on her back. Perhaps all that weight strained her and paved the way for further injures. I spoke with her at this Worlds, and she told me how much she wants to return to gymnastics and training. It was also my understanding that she is waiting for someone to help her. Mustafina is a maximalist. She only wants to compete in order to win medals. She needs someone who can help her and to make believe that she can.
Yes, right now the US gymnasts are ahead of the planet. But Mustafina must be standing on a pedestal at Rio Olympics. I will repeat, that she needs someone who can find the right motivation for her, who can make her believe in herself.
Alexandrov reminded us that he left Russia mainly because he understood that Mustafina became a hostage of a very unpleasant situation. It so happened that Alexandrov became Mustafina's personal coach despite being a head coach of Russian WAG team, although he didn't plan on it. (Furthermore, he recalls Valentina placing her to compete first despite the known fact that the first gymnast usually gets lowered scores, plus the fact that this didn't allow Aliya time to untape her legs before floor. He asked Valentina not to make Aliya go first, but she refused). One of the main reasons I left was to make life easier for Aliya so she was no longer a "political hostage" per se.
Afterwords, those in charge found a different approach to her in order to gain her trust. They would let her do whatever she wanted; "want to work out? Sure, go ahead. Don't feel like it today? No problem, sweety". And what did they get in the end with this approach?? The truth of the matter is that a gymnast cannot continue progressing if he or she does not have a person next to them to enforce discipline and some level of control. So much time has been wasted! Truly, discipline is the stuff a long sports career is made of!
3) "If Russia wants team medals at Rio Olympics, we need to get Mustafina back in shape. It will be next to impossible to be first for Russia, but Russian girls should be silver medalists". Alexandrov believes that Russian WAG should have been on the podium and not in fourth place despite not having Mustafina competing. The team does not seem to have the strength, the same might as the Russian team usually would. It is obvious to me that there are some kind of problems with the training process. I have read the interview given by V. Rodionenko, and disagree with her statement that the British team were given higher scores because they were on home soil. Pardon me, but this is an absurd statement given the 4 falls of Russian team in TF. I also do not think that Russian team was weakened by new and inexperienced gymnasts. Every member but Seda has competed on international and high level. And actually Seda did pretty good in TF for being the newest addition to the Senior team. The most experienced gymnasts competed poorly, namely Komova and Afanasyeva. Afanasyeva has huge competition experience. Vika is an extremely talented gymnast but she needs more motivation. She needs to understand that she is competing for the entire Country. Perhaps I am wrong, but it didn't seem to me that either one of them were putting up a fight. Some people may not like US team, but they had so much fight in them! Our men's team definitely had fight, where the girls not so much.