The star figure skater of the 2022 Olympics first admitted why she was kicked out of the Ukrainian national team. After that, she went to Russia

Russian figure skater Anastasia Shabotova has denied rumors that her departure from the Ukrainian national team in 2022 was due to a comment on a post by Yevgeny Plyushchenko. The figure skater explained that she liked the video for its quality, not knowing that it contained support for hostilities. She emphasized that her "thumbs up" did not mean approval of such actions.

The 18-year-old Muscovite said that after the Olympics she realized that she could leave the national team. She was told to prepare for the World Cup in Moscow, and she did not make the decision on her own.

However, a week before the competition, her mother was told that the Ukrainian team would probably not go to the championship because of the situation in the country. Later she found out that the team was still participating, but without her. After that, she was sent a letter of exclusion from the national team.

"I think the real reason was that I was not present in the country. But if they had wanted to and said so, of course, the training could have been held outside of Moscow," the athlete told CE.

Shabotova is currently working as a coach in Russia.

Since February 24, 2022, Shabotova has refused to condemn the invasion of our country. The only thing she did was to post a neutral Instagram post on the 25th day of the Russian invasion, where she called for peace in general terms.

At the same time, Shabotova refused to call Russia the aggressor, also not mentioning Ukraine.

On March 17, 2022, Shabotova liked a post by the famous Russian figure skater Yevgeny Plushenko about the war in Ukraine. Plyushchenko posted a video on his Instagram, in which, in particular, he emphasized the need for a "special operation" in Ukraine.

On March 23, 2022, Shabotova was expelled from the Ukrainian national team.

As a reminder, Shabotova made a splash at the 2022 Olympics in Tokyo.

Ukraine took the last 10th place in the team figure skating championship and ended its performance at the Games in Beijing ahead of schedule.

It should be noted that 16-year-old Ukrainian figure skater Anastasia Shabotova, according to media reports, competed at the 2020 Beijing Olympics without her personal coach.

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