Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine Igor Zhdanov said that he supports the boycott of the Biathlon World Cup in Tyumen.

"The biathlon federation of the USA, Canada and the Czech Republic announced a boycott of the World Cup stage in Russia, Tyumen.

I am sure that our biathlon community should become a participant of this action. This is a position as a minister and a citizen - I am for a boycott.

Russia is an aggressor state that occupied part of our territory. Russia is a state where the use of doping has become one of the elements of the national sports policy.

I think that the Biathlon Federation of Ukraine will listen to the position of the minister.

I would also like to inform you that we are asking all international federations not to nominate international sports competitions on the territory of the aggressor state and the malicious violator of the World Anti-Doping Code, "Zhdanov wrote on his social network page.

Earlier, the US team announced the boycott of this stage. Women's national team of Ukraine in biathlon announced that it plans to perform at this stage of the World Cup.

Recall, it was first reported that this stage was moved to Oslo, but the president of the International Biathlon Union (IBU) Anders Besseberg subsequently said that there were no changes.

The World Cup in Tyumen is scheduled for March 22-25, 2018.