"It humiliates me": Russian vice-champion complains that he is forced to "look through a peephole" at tournaments without Russians

World champion and Olympic vice-champion Ilya Averbukh complained that he could not follow sports competitions during the Russian suspension. The former figure skater called the 2024 European Continental Championships, which took place in Lithuania, a second-rate tournament without Russian representatives.

Averbukh said this in an interview with the propaganda publication Sport-Express. The choreographer of the Ice Age show added that for this reason he allegedly does not watch matches of international football tournaments such as the Champions League or the Europa League, from which Russians were expelled after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"Without the Russians, the European Figure Skating Championships are really a B tournament, and there is no point in watching it. I don't see anything there. I don't like watching international tournaments. I feel as if they closed the door in front of me and said: "If you want, look through the peephole". It humiliates me, so I don't want to watch. This applies not only to figure skating, but also to football. I adore football, but I don't want to watch the European Cups unless our team is there. It's my inner feeling, and I can't and don't want to overcome it," Averbuch said.

Earlier, Russian propagandists were completely embarrassed at the World Figure Skating Championships in Lithuania. In addition, fans shouted "Glory to Ukraine" at the tournament.

As OBOZ.UA previously reported, three-time Ukrainian figure skating champion Ivan Shmuratko put on a spectacular performance at the European Championships, taking to the ice in a white shirt with a red spot on his chest. And former world champion Maria Butyrskaya, a Russian, criticized the officiating at the tournament with the words "Are you stupid? "

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