ISU Statement on Russia's war against Ukraine - Participation in international competitions of Skaters and Officials from Russia and Belarus

[Hedwig]

@genevieve - could you maybe change this thread title too like in PI? To war from Russia instead of crisis.

 

[airgelaal]

Translation of Katsalapov's Speech from yesterday (no idea if its accurate). This is not what I would be saying if i really supported an active "special operation"

"I want to thank everyone who really cares about sports. For all of us, both for athletes and for fans, this is especially important today.

It is very important for me to compete at international competitions under the flag of my homeland. There should be no politics in sports. Sport is the world. Sport is the friendship of athletes from all countries. Sport is life."

Putin said almost the same words, when he announced the start of the war. And everyone who supports him insists that this is a war for peace.

 

[happycamper2554]

I hope you have some mustard for that pretzel. He is spouting the party line here.

I agree but i think is spouting it under threat.

 

[AYS]

I don't think I've seen this mentioned anywhere of if this is the exact place for this, but Kirill Khalyavin and his family are in Madrid with Sara Hurtado now. I know she'd left Russia earlier, but I'm not sure if they left then also or have followed her. I wasn't under the impression they'd gone with her from what I recall of the interview she gave earlier in the war.

𝓚𝓘𝓡𝓘𝓛𝓛 on Instagram: "Día Del Padre🥸"

697 likes, 29 comments - kirill_khalyavin on March 19, 2022: "Día Del Padre🥸".

www.instagram.com

 

[Karen-W]

I don't think I've seen this mentioned anywhere of if this is the exact place for this, but Kirill Khalyavin and his family are in Madrid with Sara Hurtado now. I know she'd left Russia earlier, but I'm not sure if they left then also or have followed her. I wasn't under the impression they'd gone with her from what I recall of the interview she gave earlier in the war.

𝓚𝓘𝓡𝓘𝓛𝓛 on Instagram: "Día Del Padre🥸"

697 likes, 29 comments - kirill_khalyavin on March 19, 2022: "Día Del Padre🥸".

www.instagram.com

Yes, this news was posted a couple weeks ago in the non-Russian skaters training in Russia discussion.

 

[Sylvia]

Yes, this news was posted a couple weeks ago in the non-Russian skaters training in Russia discussion.

Link to the post in that thread: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/non-russian-skaters-training-in-russia.109504/#post-6223436

 

[Yehudi]

There were athletes other than skaters there. Have any of those athletes posted anything anti-war.

The Averina sisters, if anything, have been all too happy to push the narrative that there is a bias against Russians on the world stage.

 

[starrynight]

The Averina sisters, if anything, have been all too happy to push the narrative that there is a bias against Russians on the world stage.

What’s happening with their coach? I thought I glanced at an article where it said Viner had left Russia with her Oligarch husband.

 

[Bouffantrex]

What would have happened to those who went if they had not gone? Most likely, they would neither have been killed, tortured, or imprisoned. Perhaps (and I don't know for sure), they would have been blacklisted. If so, then skaters lake Evgenia Tarasova made a choice of money over principle. Better to scrub floors with a clean conscience than to be Putin's puppet.[/RANT]

While I somewhat agree with this principle, grand declarations like this are extremely easy to make when you have 3000 miles between you and a war.

Of course, we'd all like to think we would stand up to Putin's propaganda if we were faced with the situation these Russian athletes find themselves in, but I think it's rather gross to say things like this when you're in the cushy USA and very very far removed from Ukraine and Russia. Don't you think you might just go into survival mode at some point?

There are so many other corrupt Russians to target your rage towards. Maybe it's just me, but figure skaters attending this rally probably should be far down the list.

I don't mean this as a personal attack, but I've seen so much of this point of view on social media today.

 

[Vagabond]

Maybe it's just me, but figure skaters attending this rally probably should be far down the list.

This is a figure skating forum. If this were a forum about office workers, we'd be upset about all the office workers attending the rally. (And rightfully so.)

 

[Karen-W]

Don't you think you might just go into survival mode at some point?

Yeah, no. Survival mode, when you have the financial means and international connections that these particular athletes have, doesn't involve going along like a good, little soldier and attending a rally like this. Survival mode when you have the financial means and international connections of SinKats, TarMor, and the Averina sisters means getting the hell out of the country.

 

[starrynight]

The article about Alisher Usmanov and Irina Viner -

Oligarch Alisher Usmanov 'flees to bolthole palace in Uzbekistan'

Alisher Usmanov, who faces having European assets seized since Putin's invasion of Ukraine, is thought to have fled from one of his homes in Germany earlier this week.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Don’t know if that means they’ve left Russia or are just peacing out in their Uzbeki Palace.

 

[aka_gerbil]

Given the devaluation of the ruble, how much financial means do they actually have now? How much of their prize money did they personally end up with once it funneled through government and coaches hands?

 

[soogar]

People here act like they make so much prize money. Don’t couples earn 90k if they win worlds? What is a Grand Prix event, 18k? I’m sure they earn some money for touring but I don’t think this amount of money is so much that they can take off and just leave their country. It’s far from tennis player money and there is still taxes and coaching/federation fees that have to be paid.

 

[airgelaal]

People here act like they make so much prize money. Don’t couples earn 90k if they win worlds? What is a Grand Prix event, 18k? I’m sure they earn some money for touring but I don’t think this amount of money is so much that they can take off and just leave their country. It’s far from tennis player money and there is still taxes and coaching/federation fees that have to be paid.

Tell it to Nazarova/Nikitin, for example.

 

[Vagabond]

The article about Alisher Usmanov and Irina Viner -

Oligarch Alisher Usmanov 'flees to bolthole palace in Uzbekistan'

Alisher Usmanov, who faces having European assets seized since Putin's invasion of Ukraine, is thought to have fled from one of his homes in Germany earlier this week.

www.dailymail.co.uk

The article reads like a promo for "Runaway with the Rich and Infamous."

Given the devaluation of the ruble, how much financial means do they actually have now? How much of their prize money did they personally end up with once it funneled through government and coaches hands?

I am sure that it will be tough for them to make ends meet. I did a quick Internet news search, and it seems that their $600,000,000 yacht is stuck in a harbor in Hamburg and they had to make a quick sale of their mansion in the U.K. for only only £50,000,000 for it. How ever will they manage, the poor things?

 

[aka_gerbil]

I’m pretty sure that the Russian skaters in question don’t have a 600 million dollar yacht or a UK mansion to sell.

 

[bladesofgorey]

IMO the bar is so low it's easy to pass it and yet they didn't. No need to flee, no need to take a public stand against the invasion. Just don't show up to a pro war rally with a Z on your jacket and act enthusiastic. It's the smallest of asks and other skaters so far have accomplished it.

 

[aka_gerbil]

IMO the bar is so low it's easy to pass it and yet they didn't. No need to flee, no need to take a public stand against the invasion. Just don't show up to a pro war rally with a Z on your jacket and act enthusiastic. It's the smallest of asks and other skaters so far have accomplished it.

We’re going in circles at this point, but how do you know for sure that some of these people were there by choice and not under threat for posting about spring (anti-war shibboleth) or saying they like to go for a walk in the place where what protesting is going on is happening?

There are reports that people were forced into the stadium at gunpoint. I wouldn’t assume anyone who was forced to attend could just say no without their possibly being some serious consequences. We all think we’d stand up in that situation, but what if it was a parent, grandparent, niece/nephew or sibling’s safety that was hanging in the balance?

 

[reut]

There are reports that people were forced into the stadium at gunpoint.

Any actual proof to that? And not just "some people writing something about someone telling them"?
And, no, sorry, none of those examples is "anti-war shibboleth" as much as you want them to be.

 

[Vagabond]

I’m pretty sure that the Russian skaters in question don’t have a 600 million dollar yacht or a UK mansion to sell.

I never suggested that any skaters did. I was writing about an oligarch and his wife. You do understand that, don't you?

 

[skatingguy]

@genevieve - could you maybe change this thread title too like in PI? To war from Russia instead of crisis.

The thread title is worded that way because that's the wording that the ISU used.

 

[aka_gerbil]

Any actual proof to that? And not just "some people writing something about someone telling them"?
And, no, sorry, none of those examples is "anti-war shibboleth" as much as you want them to be.

Spring Is Coming: Take to the Streets against the War

Chamado para ações globais na Rússia contra a invasão na Ucrânia.

crimethinc.com

https://twitter.com/avtonom_org_en/status/1499735206571528201?s=21

https://twitter.com/girafesurlepath/status/1502360661136920593?s=21

https://twitter.com/fedorforest/status/1503382205543993345?s=21

Spring is certainly the call of the anarchist group trying to organize protests against the war in Russia.


The tweet was in a thread on the bbc coverage of people being forced to attend.

https://twitter.com/adie996/status/1504997114660945923?s=21

 

[reut]

The tweet was in a thread on the bbc coverage of people being forced to attend.

https://twitter.com/adie996/status/1504997114660945923?s=21

I saw that one tweet, that's why I wrote, some actual proof and not "some people writing something about someone", this is not a trusted source.

As for the spring, sometimes spring is just a spring and saying they "love to walk" is just loving to walk (pretty standard answer from athletes who don't have hobbies/interests in life). And knowing people in question a bit, trust me, it was just spring and just walk in their case. Sorry to disappoint you.

 

[aka_gerbil]

I never suggested that any skaters did. I was writing about an oligarch and his wife. You do understand that, don't you?

My question was specifically about how much money the skaters would actually have at this point though. I know oligarchs are wealthy. But the skaters were said to be well off financially and I don’t think they have the kind of money some people think they do, especially now. Just talking about prize money, it doesn’t go to them. The fed takes a cut to apply to training expenses and then the coaches get a cut, so how much actually makes it back to the skaters?

 

[Yehudi]

Given the devaluation of the ruble, how much financial means do they actually have now? How much of their prize money did they personally end up with once it funneled through government and coaches hands?

The Russians I know always had their savings in Euros and Dollars. The abundance of money exchanges in Moscow is not just for the benefit of tourists.

 

[aka_gerbil]

I saw that one tweet, that's why I wrote, some actual proof and not "some people writing something about someone", this is not a trusted source.

As for the spring, sometimes spring is just a spring and saying they "love to walk" is just loving to walk (pretty standard answer from athletes who don't have hobbies/interests in life). Sorry to disappoint you.

I’m not disappointed. I just think there’s a very real possibility that some people may have been there by force.

The Russians I know always had their savings in Euros and Dollars. The abundance of money exchanges in Moscow is not just for the benefit of tourists.

But with things frozen, do they have access to it? If you can’t access it…

 

[starrynight]

I was just scrolling a Tutberidze Fan Instagram account - the kind that usually just posts adoring pics and vids of her and her skaters.

Anyway, that account posted photos of Nikita and Victoria at the rally and gushingly praised them for seeking ‘a world without nazism’.

I know it’s just a fan account, but it’s an interesting perspective of what people actually think. I suppose they must be using a VPN or be posting outside of Russia.

Tutberidze❤️ on Instagram: "Тарасова и Морозов, Синицина и Кацалапов приняли участие в митинге «Za мир без нацизма! Zа Россию! Zа Президентa!» в Лужниках🤍💙❤️ . . #teamtutberidze #eteritutberidze #tutberidzeteam #tutberidzeteri #teamdudakov #sergeydu

1,347 likes, 221 comments - teamtutberidzee on March 18, 2022: "Тарасова и Морозов, Синицина и Кацалапов приняли участие в митинге «Za мир без нацизма! Zа Россию! Zа Президентa!» в Лужниках🤍💙❤️ . . #teamtutberidze #eteritutberidze #tutberidzeteam #tutberidzeteri #teamdudakov #sergeydudakov...

www.instagram.com

 

[aka_gerbil]

I was just scrolling a Tutberidze Fan Instagram account - the kind that usually just posts adoring pics and vids of her and her skaters.

Anyway, that account posted photos of Nikita and Victoria at the rally and gushingly praised them for seeking ‘a world without nazism’.

I know it’s just a fan account, but it’s an interesting perspective of what people actually think. I suppose they must be using a VPN or be posting outside of Russia.

Tutberidze❤️ on Instagram: "Тарасова и Морозов, Синицина и Кацалапов приняли участие в митинге «Za мир без нацизма! Zа Россию! Zа Президентa!» в Лужниках🤍💙❤️ . . #teamtutberidze #eteritutberidze #tutberidzeteam #tutberidzeteri #teamdudakov #sergeydu

1,347 likes, 221 comments - teamtutberidzee on March 18, 2022: "Тарасова и Морозов, Синицина и Кацалапов приняли участие в митинге «Za мир без нацизма! Zа Россию! Zа Президентa!» в Лужниках🤍💙❤️ . . #teamtutberidze #eteritutberidze #tutberidzeteam #tutberidzeteri #teamdudakov #sergeydudakov...

www.instagram.com

Related, I saw that apparently the gymnast sisters photoshopped the Z off of photos they posted on a personal account and there seemed to be a lot of comments that Google translated to them being traitors for the photoshop.

There do seem to be a lot of people sincerely convinced they’re fighting nazis.

 

[starrynight]

I do think there’s a tendency for people to infantilise populations and say ‘oh they couldn’t actually think that or support that’. Just because it seems so far from our perspective. I think of plenty of examples in various conflicts.