Figure skater Drobyazko said she will appeal the decision to deprive her of Lithuanian citizenship
Figure skater Margarita Drobyazko said that she filed a complaint against the decree of the President of Lithuania depriving her of citizenship. She announced this on Instagram (banned in the Russian Federation; owned by the Meta corporation, recognized as extremist and banned in Russia).
“Today I am happy to say that I have found the strength to fight for what I believe is right and important,” she wrote. The figure skater noted that the Lithuanian Department of State Security came to the conclusion that she does not pose any threat to the country’s national security. Despite this, the President of the Republic Gitanas Nauseda signed a decree depriving Drobiazko of citizenship.
The athlete also recalled that she had already described her position on this issue and explained the reasons why she considered the decision of the Lithuanian authorities to be unlawful and unfair. “I know that I am supported by the majority of Lithuanians, who over the thirty years that I have been a citizen of Lithuania have become people as close to me as those living in my historical homeland – in Russia,” added the bronze medalist of the World Figure Skating Championships .
Drobyazko acquired Lithuanian citizenship in 1993. Together with her husband Povilas Vanagas, she represented the country five times at the Olympic Games in dance duet competitions.
On September 15, it became known that Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda had deprived Drobiazko of his citizenship. The reason was the athlete’s performance in Navka’s show in Russia. In turn, the skater said that she was not ready to give up Russia in order to retain her Lithuanian passport.
Source: Lenta
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