Posted 19 августа 2021,, 15:26

Published 19 августа 2021,, 15:26

Modified 24 декабря 2022,, 22:37

Updated 24 декабря 2022,, 22:37

It remains to put on the collars: Belarusian athletes were banned from performing abroad

It remains to put on the collars: Belarusian athletes were banned from performing abroad

19 августа 2021, 15:26
Belarusian athlete Kristina Timanovskaya, who received asylum in Poland, announced new bans by the Belarusian authorities. Now athletes are prohibited from going to competitions abroad. There are rumors in Minsk that this decision was made by the president's eldest son, Viktor Lukashenko, who heads the NOC of Belarus.

Sergey Kron

Let's make a reservation right away: in Minsk, experts close to sports circles, whom Novye Izvestia contacted, flatly refused to comment on the actions of the Belarusian authorities. The local press limited itself to short reports about the statement, which were made simultaneously in Warsaw and Berlin by the athlete Kristina Timanovskaya and the famous Belarusian athlete, silver medalist of the 2008 Olympics in decathlon Andrei Kravchenko. According to their words, it turned out that the Ministry of Sports of the republic forbade athletes to travel abroad to any, including commercial competitions and training camps. From now on, they do not even have the right to spend their vacation anywhere in the Baltics, Greece or Turkey.

"I am writing to friends of athletes that they have already bought tickets for the competition, spent up to one and a half thousand euros, and they closed the exit. People are losing money, and no one will be responsible for this, no one will compensate them for the damage they have suffered", - Timanovskaya said.

Andrey Kravchenko, who also decided not to return to his homeland and, apparently, is hiding from the KGB in Germany, posted on Instagram a screenshot of the correspondence, which says that by order of the Minister of Sports “all trips abroad to competitions have been stopped, this also applies to those who who is on vacation". The message says that it is prohibited, "including departures at their own expense, and for violation of the ban will be followed by dismissal".

“It remains only to hang the leash with the collar around the neck and glue the mouth with a plaster! Now you will have to pay for your silence”, - wrote Kravchenko bitterly on Instagram.

Some of the Belarusian athletes with whom Novye Izvestia managed to talk, referring to the publication Tribuna.com published in Minsk, as if to justify the actions of the authorities, explained that, apparently, they were not talking about a ban on going to foreign competitions, but about how that the Ministry of Sports will no longer be able to pay for the participation of athletes in commercial competitions and training camps.

Kristina Timanovskaya told reporters that the Belarusian authorities, through intermediaries, promised her complete safety if she returned to her homeland. According to her, she is afraid and does not believe Lukashenko.

At the last Olympic Games in Tokyo, the Belarusian athlete said that she refuses to fulfill the coach's requirement to run the 4x400m relay. A conflict broke out, after which Christina asked for help from the International Olympic Committee, saying that the KGB officers were trying to take her to Minsk. As a result, the girl was hidden in the Polish embassy, and then secretly transported to Warsaw.

After the incident with Timanovskaya, two more athletes refused to return to Belarus - Andrei Kravchenko and his wife Yana Maksimova, who played in the all-around. In 2020, the athlete took part in protests of those who disagreed with the results of the presidential elections in Belarus. After that he was sent to jail for ten days. Now the athletes live with their daughter in Germany.

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