“It’s a catastrophe, inhumane” – Olympian Aljona Savchenko left ‘speechless’ after seeing figure skaters at Putin rally


“It’s a catastrophe, inhumane” – Olympian Aljona Savchenko left ‘speechless’ after seeing figure skaters at Putin rally

Aljona Savchenko

Former Olympic and world figure skating champion Aljona Savchenko said she couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw athletes at a pro-war rally in Russia.

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Savchenko, who is set to take up a new role with the Netherlands, stated that her family members are still trapped in her native country Ukraine. Moreover, they are running short of food and have not been able to go out for multiple days at a time.

Earlier, an Inside the Games story reported that the figure skaters – Nikita Katsalapov, Victoria Sinitsina, Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov – were photographed standing on stage during a pro-war rally organized last week by Russian President Vladimir Putin to drum up support for his invasion of Ukraine.

“It is very painful what is happening between Ukraine and Russia. Children and people are dying, countries are being destroyed – it’s a catastrophe.

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“And these athletes are celebrating it and supporting this gala. It’s inhumane. However, I don’t know if they went there voluntarily or not. There are rumours that they had to or were forced to. Unfortunately, I can’t assess it,” she said during an interview with Eurosport.

“Have deleted many from my contact list”

Aljona Savchenko
Aljona Savchenko

On being asked whether she was in regular contact with anyone in Russia, the former German coach said she has had to delete a lot of people from her phone.

“To be honest, I have deleted many from my contact list,” Savchenko said. “I can’t understand why some are in favour of this war.

“Others are against the war but don’t speak out about it. There are many people who write me negative messages. But there are also many who are against the war. However, they write to me that they cannot do anything against it. If they protest against it, they would pay for it with heavy prison sentences or even their lives.”

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Also Read | “Completely outrageous that I don’t even know how to express myself” – Olympian Mikaela Shiffrin on Ukraine war