Ukrainian defender of “Zenith” Yaroslav Rakitskiy left the Russian team, the press service of the club from St. Petersburg reports..

The club said that the reason was the difficult family situation of the player. Rakitskiy has been playing in Russia since 2019, moving to Zenit from Shakhtar.

32-year-old defender played 54 matches and scored 4 goals in the national team. The last match the player played on October 16, 2018 against the Czech Republic (1:0).

It should be noted that Yaroslav Rakitsky was known for not singing the anthem of Ukraine before the matches of the national team, which caused great dissatisfaction among fans on the Internet..

Recall that on February 24, Russian President Putin made an urgent statement about conducting a special military operation on the territory of Ukraine, launching a large-scale invasion of Ukrainian cities..

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Earlier it was reported that the player of the national team of Ukraine refused to work under the guidance of a Russian coach.