Two-time Olympic champion Karina Aznavuryan was outraged by Olga Kharlan's refusal to shake hands with Anna Smirnova at the World Fencing Championships in Milan. The Russian winner of the Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Games accused the Ukrainian sabre fencer of inappropriate behaviour and called the actions of her compatriot, who staged a real circus on the track, "a struggle for her honour and dignity".

Aznavuryan, who fled to Russia from Azerbaijan, said this in a commentary to Match TV. The former fencer repeated the main narratives of Kremlin propaganda about sports outside politics, turning a blind eye to the fact that Smirnova openly supports the Russian Armed Forces, where her brother serves.

"This has never been normal and will never be normal because it is unsportsmanlike behaviour. Such behaviour on the track by Olga Kharlan, such a great athlete, is completely unacceptable towards her opponent. Going into the fight with Anya Smirnova, Olga understood that she was fencing with a representative of Russia. And no one should behave like that at all. Because sport has always been outside politics. To come out and behave like this is extremely incorrect, to put it mildly. Our girl Anya is a good girl, she did everything right by inviting the judges and fighting for her honour and dignity," Aznavouryan said.

As a reminder, Olga Kharlan was disqualified from the 2023 World Cup for refusing to shake hands with a Russian opponent. The Fencing Federation of Ukraine (FFU) stood up for the athlete and is preparing to file an appeal. Our sabre fencer herself said that the decision to exclude her from the tournament simply killed her.

For its part, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has recommended that federations take a more responsible attitude to the matches between Ukrainians and Russians, expressing solidarity with our compatriots.

As OBOZREVATEL previously reported, MP and Olympic wrestling champion Zhan Beleniuk said that Kharlan and the International Fencing Federation (FIE) had initially agreed to a deal that provided for a refusal to shake hands with the Russian. Later, the head coach of the Ukrainian national fencing team, Natalia Konrad, explained what actually happened to Kharlan.

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