Kharlan shared what the Russians have done to her in retaliation for the scandal at the World Championships

Famed Ukrainian saber fencer Olha Kharlan has admitted that she started receiving a huge number of threats from Russians after the scandal at the World Fencing Championships when she refused to shake hands with Russian athlete Anna Smirnova. According to Kharlan, she nearly lost her social media accounts.

"They started trying to hack everything: Telegram, Instagram, my number. My cousin was with me, he's an IT guy. I said, 'Do something about it because I can't use two-step verification.' I just started getting some confirmation codes on my phone. They got my phone number somewhere, my email, and they started spreading it around. I saw the first call with +79. I know it's some Russian, and I'm like, 'What the f*ck? I see it is a kid. I won't take it," Kharlan said in an interview with Maria Efrosynina.

Olha said that later the Russians started calling and she had to close access for anyone who is not in her contacts.

"But then they started sending messages. I believe that this is an integral part of what is happening. They were blocked immediately. They started sending pictures that I didn't open, but I saw the gist of it. I think they were the dead. Ours or not ours, I don't know," Kharlan summarized.

As reported by OBOZREVATEL, Khrlan defeated Russian Smirnova in 1/32 of the 2023 World Championships in Milan.

Our compatriot refused to shake hands with her opponent after the fight, who made went crazy and refused to leave the track.

The representative of the Russian Federation filed a protest against the result of the duel, which was rejected. The Match TV propaganda channel published a photo of the denunciation that Anna Smirnova wrote on Olha. As a result, the FIE disqualified Kharlan from the World Cup-2023, but the next day suspended its decision.

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

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. She is very proud of him, which is evident from the joint photos.

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

Video evidence of Kharlan's disqualification being pressed on tournament organizers by Russia emerged later.

Only verified information we have in our Telegram channel Obozrevatel, Threads and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!