The captain of the men's biathlon team of Ukraine Dmitry Pidruchny reacted to the interview of the President of the Biathlon Federation Volodymyr Brynzak about naturalized Russians playing for the Ukrainian national team.
On the eve of Brinzak, in an interview with Suspіlna Sport, he said that most of the naturalized biathletes of the Ukrainian national team were in Russia at the time of the start of a full-scale war and now keep fit in the Russian Federation, because they allegedly "
" They called me on the phone, they are training. They said they were ready to leave, how will the centralized preparation be,"
However, Pidruchny called the statement of the head of the Biathlon Federation a lie.
\? And again a lie! This time it's the last one,"
Also, the words of the president of the federation were denied by the Ukrainian biathlete Kristina Dmitrenko. She stated that the naturalized biathletes left for Russia after the start of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine..
" Everyone was in Syanki at the training camp, getting ready for the IBU Cup, and when the war started, they packed up and went home. Calling you girls. If you are thinking now to sit quietly in your minks, without posting at least some posts in support of Ukraine, and then come to us and give some explanations, they say, we couldn’t and were afraid, then it’s better to sit at home.
Brynzak, of course, will take you back, but the majority of the biathlon family is against your presence,"
It should be noted that naturalized Belarusian Darya Blashko and Russians Nadezhda Belkina, Olga Abramova and Ekaterina Bekh play for the Ukrainian national team, at the IBU level - Anastasia Rasskazova, junior - Oksana Moskalenko. Another Russian Daria Sidorova was naturalized in the summer of 2021, she did not have time to play for Ukraine in the international arena.
Recall that after a full-scale Russian invasion to defend the homeland, Ukrainian biathletes became known: Anastasia Merkushina, Dmitry Pidruchny, Artem Prima, Anna Krivonos. They joined the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine or the terrorist defense.