"Going against the president? That's nonsense." Russian figure skater Samsonov, 18, bends to Putin in epic fashion

Danilo Samsonov, the vice-champion of the Youth Olympics, was outraged by the conditions of admission of Russian athletes to international competitions. The 18-year-old Muscovite repeated the traditional narratives of Kremlin propaganda about the politicization of sports and called the demands that athletes not support the war in Ukraine nonsense.

Samsonov said this in an interview with Sport24. The Russian, who set three world records at the junior level, added that a Russian citizen would not turn against his president, noting that Russian athletes are generally outside politics and should not be suspended.

"The fact that they allowed some people to travel under neutral status, but you have to sign that you do not support the SVO (as the war in Ukraine is shamefully called in Russia - ed.), Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, and so on, is nonsense. How can a Russian citizen go against his president? I think politics and sports cannot be combined. Athletes see nothing but life in their sport, and they are not involved in any conflicts over politics," Samsonov said.

Earlier, the famous Russian figure skating coach Tatyana Tarasova sadly complained about the suspension of Russian athletes from international competitions.

As OBOZ.UA previously reported, Russian fencers will miss the Olympics in Paris. And saber fencer Sofia Velikaya admitted that no one is interested in the opinion of athletes about the boycott of the Olympic Games in Russia.

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