"I didn't speak Russian unnecessarily": five-time world champion from Russia complained about Ukrainians in Croatia

Anastasia Arkhipovskaya, a five-time world synchronized swimming champion, avoided speaking Russian while working as a coach in Croatia. The representative of the aggressor country, who ended her career in 2020, complained about Ukrainians who fled to the Balkans because of the criminal war unleashed by Russia.

Arkhipovskaya said this in an interview with Sport24. According to her, in Croatia, she worked with children from Ukraine, among other things. At the same time, our federation opposed cooperation with citizens of a terrorist state, which the Russian called "not very understandable." Interestingly, the former synchronized swimmer has already returned to Russia.

"There were a lot of refugees from Ukraine, so I didn't speak Russian in public places, in public transport, on the street. You never know who you're going to run into. After that, a girl from Odesa came to me. She was, of course, very excited with her parents that there were two Russian coaches here, and she could start training right away. However, the Ukrainian Federation did not want to give her the documents she needed to register with the club, saying that we would be turning her against her country. It was a small conflict, not very clear. In the end, everything ended well, and she is training," Arkhipovskaya said.

Earlier, Stanislava Komarova, vice-champion of the 2004 Olympics in swimming, called Russian athletes who agreed to compete in international tournaments in a neutral status "a disgrace".

As OBOZ.UA previously reported, Vladimir Sengleev, CEO of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), accused the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of not paying Russian athletes.

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