Russian gymnast Ivan Kulyak painted the letter Z before the awards ceremony at the World Cup in Qatar. It is reported by RIA Novosti.
With this symbol on his chest, the athlete received a bronze medal won in exercises on parallel bars. The victory in the competition was won by the Ukrainian Ilya Kovtun, the second place was taken by the representative of Kazakhstan Milad Karimi.
The coach of the Russian national gymnastics team, Valentina Rodionenko, said that Kulyak’s act was a response to numerous provocations from the Ukrainians during the tournament. “Because we are silent, and they are telling lies, they are actively slandering us. We are asked not to provoke, but they do not stop. You can’t continue to live like this, ”added Rodionenko.
The first photos of military equipment with the letter Z painted on it appeared on the Internet a few days before the start of the special operation in Donbass. After that, many patriotic Telegram channels dedicated to events in Ukraine began to use it. On March 2, the head of the Kemerovo region, Sergei Tsivilev, decided to “rename” Kuzbass and add the letter Z to the name. He said that this was part of an action to support the Russian army.
Source: Lenta
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