The Ukrainian Cycling Federation accuses Russia and terrorists of stealing a cycling race in Crimea (VIDEO)
Kyiv, October 29 (PolitNavigator, Vladimir Raichenko) – Ukraine became a victim of theft by Russia, which stole a Ukrainian bicycle race, the organizer of which was forced by terrorists in Crimea to take Russian citizenship.
Representatives of the Ukrainian Cycling Federation spoke about this at a press conference in Kyiv, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
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We were talking about the annual international cycling race, previously held in Yalta.
“Our press conference is a reaction to the brutal attempt of the Russian Federation to steal its bright and interesting project from Ukraine,” said Vice-President of the Ukrainian Cycling Federation Alexander Bashenko.
He read out a printout from the application of the organizers of the Yalta race for next year, from which it follows that the application was submitted on behalf of Russia and it is recognized internationally that it is taking place on Russian territory.
“Yesterday I had an hour-long conversation with senior officials of the International Cycling Union,” a representative of the Ukrainian federation informed reporters. “This quote caused nothing but laughter.”
At the same time, the reasons for the laughter, according to Bashenko, which was the reaction of representatives of the International Cycling Union (UCI) to the statement of the Russian side, are not entirely clear, since in the international calendar the race is indeed listed as Russian, which was confirmed by the press conference moderator who did not give her name ( apparently a representative of the press service of the Ukrainian federation).
“The International Cycling Union has published a calendar for next year, which includes this race, but Russia is listed as the host country,” she clarified. – That is, the race changed its status from Ukrainian to Russian. There are two questions: why did the Russians appropriate the race for themselves and call it the “Russian race”? And second: how could the UCI give out information that this is a Russian cycling race.”
It is worth noting that the organizer of the race is Olga Pernatskaya, who changed her Ukrainian citizenship to Russian after the annexation of Crimea to Russia. According to the Ukrainian side, terrorists forced it to take such a step.
“We respect the race organizer Olga Pernatskaya, since this cyclist is a fan of our sport,” says Bashenko. – This year she ran the race under the flag of Ukraine – no questions asked. Who forced her, how this terrorism is happening there in Crimea... I understand that people are forced to write such things.”
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