Deutsche Welle journalist Andrei Kobyakov explained what happened between Ukrainian Olga Kharlan and Russian Anna Smirnova at the World Fencing Championships in Milan. Kobyakov, a former professional fencer who still competes in German and European veteran tournaments, revealed that the Olympic champion from Mykolaiv did not simply "draw her saber toward her opponent."

In fact, Harlan's suggestion to cross blades instead of shaking hands is a norm of protocol that was already in effect during the covid-19 pandemic.

Kobyakov posted a video snippet on his Facebook with examples of how fights in the covid years ended and how Harlan wanted to do it. Olga wasn't about to completely ignore the Russian. She offered Smirnova an alternative protocol gesture. This was also confirmed earlier by Jean Beleniuk.

"The losing Russian, instead of clashing blades at the end of the bout, decided to stage a demarche with the support of her coaching group - she stayed on the track, sat down on a chair there and did not leave for 50 minutes, demanding a "handshake". Moreover, she understood perfectly well that a handshake between Ukrainians and Russians at such public events in conditions of war is impossible and there is every reason to respect the position of Ukrainian athletes (and not only athletes)," his friend, Czech journalist Alexander Morozov, published Kobyakov's explanation.

Morozov noted that the situation was resolved normally.

"The decision to disqualify Harlan has been canceled, she has world support, and the Russian coaching group has had enough of bullshit, and severely undermined the idea of Russian athletes performing under a neutral flag," the journalist wrote.

Morozov added that news reports by Russian independent media on the topic of the scandal left a heavy impression on him.

"They refused to delve into the real meaning of Harlan's gesture and did not understand the boorish meaning of Smirnova's actions, who was already performing under a neutral flag," Morozov concluded.

As reported by OBOZREVATEL, Russian TV host Olga Skabeeva threw a tantrum on the air of her program "60 Minutes" after the incident. The propagandist said that "the footage shows a Russian girl approaching, extending her hand, but a Ukrainian woman holds out a sword in her direction and does not allow her to approach.

Natalia Konrad, the head coach of the Ukrainian national fencing team, said that the day before the scandal the International Fencing Federation (FIE) changed the rules by canceling the covid protocol, but did it secretly without informing anyone.

Recall that after the match between Harlan and Smirnova in 1/32 of the 2023 World Championships in Milan, the representative of the Russian Federation filed a protest against the result of the duel, which was rejected.

Propaganda channel Match TV published a photo of the denunciation that Anna Smirnova wrote on Olga. As a result, the FIE disqualified Harlan from the World Cup-2023, but the next day suspended its decision.

Our saberist herself noted that she was simply killed by the decision to exclude her from the tournament.

Note that Smirnova is not a "neutral" athlete, as required by the competition regulations. The brother of the representative of the aggressor country is a military man, and she is very proud of him, which is evident from the joint photos.

After the high-profile publicity in the world media, the IOC also reacted to the scandal by making a sensational decision on the Ukrainian.

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