Footballer Shevchenko demanded a boycott of Russian athletes
The former coach of the Ukrainian national football team, the best European football player in 2004, Andrei Shevchenko, called for a boycott of Russian athletes.
He stated this in a propaganda video launched by the 1+1 TV channel owned by oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Shevchenko accused Russian athletes of not wanting to condemn the special operation of the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine.
“Because of the war in Ukraine, all stadiums fell silent. The silence was broken by Russian shelling, explosions of Russian missiles and Russian phosphorus bombs. The silence was broken by the cries of Ukrainian women and the tears of Ukrainian children. Most Russian athletes fell silent. This silence continues to kill Ukrainians.
Ukrainian stadiums fell silent, but we, athletes around the world, should not remain silent. I urge everyone to support the boycott of Russian athletes, national teams and teams while the war in Ukraine continues. Support Ukraine on the sports front,” Shevchenko said.
Earlier, Olympic high jump champion Maria Lasitskene wrote an open letter to the head of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, in which she criticized his position towards Russian athletes:
“At every opportunity, the International Association of Athletics Federations pulls out a trump card from its sleeve in the form of my Russian passport. And you let them get away with it. Now they are doing it again, but this time directly at your suggestion...
You do not have the courage and dignity to lift the punishment from Russian athletes. Because then you will have to admit that all these months you have violated the IOC charter.”
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