Russian athletes were given advice on communicating with Ukrainians at competitions

Russian athletes during competitions should behave with Ukrainians in accordance with the rules of sports ethics and extend a hand to their colleagues. This advice was given by State Duma deputy Svetlana Zhurova in a conversation with Lenta.ru.

“Our athletes have nothing against Ukrainian ones. They understand perfectly well that politicians and journalists are infuriating their Ukrainian colleagues. Those with whom they have been friends for many years,” the politician emphasized.

Zhurova expressed confidence that Ukrainian athletes themselves do not want to be participants in this kind of conflict and added that pressure from politicians and journalists prevents them from focusing on competitions.

“I am convinced that the Ukrainians themselves do not want all this in their hearts. But they understand that if they extend their hand to a Russian athlete, society will simply crush them. And they have to do it almost under duress. As a result, it turns out that athletes no longer think about competitions, not about results, but about how not to accidentally compromise themselves by extending their hand or standing too close to a Russian,” the deputy said.

She called on Russian athletes to ignore such pressure during competitions with Ukrainians and not give up shaking hands.

“I think our athletes need to ignore all this and reach out. We must adhere to traditions and rules, standards of ethics and sportsmanship,” concluded Zhurova.

On June 18, Ukrainian fencer Elena Krivitskaya refused to shake hands with Maya Guchmazova, who was born in Russia but competes for Georgia. “Take a gun and fight, defend your homeland. Don’t travel around Switzerland at the expense of state money to attend competitions and don’t fence!” – Guchmazova responded to the incident.