“A strange and stupid act”: the Lithuanian authorities deprived the skaters Drobyazko and Vanagas of state awards for participating in the Navka show

“The merits to the Lithuanian state were crossed out”

The possible deprivation of figure skaters Margarita Drobyazko and Povilas Vanagas of Lithuanian state awards for participating in Tatyana Navka's show "Swan Lake" became known on Monday, August 8, when the country's Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said he was ready to discuss and support this proposal.

It did not take long to make a final decision, and already on Wednesday, President Gitanas Nauseda followed the recommendations of the state awards commission and made an official statement.

The 13-time Lithuanian champions were deprived of the knightly crosses of the Order of Gediminas, which they were awarded in 2000 after winning medals at the World and European Championships.

“They crossed out their services to the Lithuanian state by the cynical act of participating in a commercial event in Sochi at a time when the blood of innocent people is being shed in Ukraine,” Nauseda is quoted as saying by TASS.

Moreover, he stated the need to revise the legislative acts so that the issue of depriving Drobyazko of citizenship could be discussed.

A native of Moscow received it in 1993 as an exception in order to be able to compete under the flag of Lithuania in tandem with Vanagas.

According to the chairman of the parliamentary committee on law and order, Stasis Shedbaras, the necessary amendments to the law on citizenship are "practically prepared."

On Thursday, they must be registered with the secretariat of the Seimas, and the issue of alienation of citizenship is going to be considered at the first autumn session of Parliament on September 10.

It seems that even the fact that she has been married to Vanagas for more than 20 years will not help the skater.

The Russian State Duma also promptly responded to the incident.

Chairman of the Committee on Physical Culture and Sports Dmitry Svishchev assured that he was closely monitoring the situation, and also promised to contact the Foreign Ministry to take control of the case.

“Guys can’t be abandoned.

If, God forbid, they are deprived of their citizenship, we simply have to lend a helping hand.

I have never seen such stupid decisions in my life.

They leave their own champions, relatives, loved ones without state awards.

I have many friends in Lithuania, I used to love to go there: good people live there.

But what their leaders are doing does not fit in the mind.

They are looking for any excuse to get to the bottom of everything connected with Russia.

And they didn’t find anything smarter than finding fault with their own champions, ”Match TV quoted the deputy as saying.

The athletes themselves have not yet commented on the decision of the Lithuanian authorities.

However, according to the organizers of Swan Lake, they will continue to go out on the ice in Sochi according to the schedule.

Navka herself stood up for them, calling the incident another manifestation of hatred for Russia.

“Great athletes give great joy, incredible emotions with their art, creativity, talent, make the world cleaner, because art is medicine for souls.

People who want to deprive those who defended the honor of their country in international competitions, at the Olympic Games, awards and citizenship, cause me contempt.

I'm not talking about those who truly love athletes, their heroes, I'm talking about the people who are sitting there in power.

It’s not for them to make such verdicts, ”Navka emphasized.

Five trips to the Olympics and medals at the World and European Championships

The verdict of the country's leadership is even more surprising when you consider that Drobyazko and Vanagas are in fact the only notable figure skaters in the history of Lithuania.

Margarita Drobyazko, as already mentioned, was born in Moscow and began to study in the capital under the guidance of Galina Istomina.

Already in the group of Gennady Akkerman, she paired up with Povilas Vanagas.

After the collapse of the USSR, the duo decided to perform under the flag of Lithuania and successfully represented the Baltic state for a whole decade.

Even though they never became world and European champions, they climbed to the podium.

The most successful for the athletes was the year 2000, when they took third place at the European Championship and the World Cup.

They also managed to take part in five Olympics and in 2002 almost won awards in Salt Lake City.

The pair fought to the last to get into the top three, but eventually remained in fifth position.

And after the end of the 2005/06 season and the seventh place at the Games in Turin, the Balts announced their retirement.

However, the athletes did not hang up their skates and switched to work in the show.

In particular, they took part in seven seasons of the Ice Age.

In 2014, the partner took second place in a pair with actor Stanislav Yarushin.

Povilas achieved a similar achievement two years later with actress Eugenia Kregzhde.

At the same time, the Lithuanians were not the first foreign skaters to suffer for participating in the Navka show.

In early July, Viktor Petrenko was expelled from the Ukrainian Figure Skating Federation (UFFK), where he was vice president.

“The NOC of Ukraine strongly condemns and considers unacceptable the act of Viktor Petrenko, who recently skated in ice shows in Sochi.

Such behavior, such an act is unacceptable for the country's Olympic community, ”the organization explained its decision.

And the other day, the winner of the Olympic Games and the 1992 World Cup was deprived of state scholarships by decree of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky.

“You can’t treat big athletes like that”

In the world of domestic figure skating, such an attitude towards their own stars caused bewilderment.

So, the Olympic champion Natalia Bestemyanova called the actions of the Lithuanian authorities "a strange and stupid act."

“What happened surprised and raised a lot of questions.

Why should professional sports be at the forefront of politics?

We've been fighting all our lives to make sure this isn't the case.

Therefore, depriving Drobyazko and Vanagas of state awards is a strange and stupid act on the part of the Lithuanian authorities.

I really sympathize with the guys.

It remains only to wait, hope and believe, ”Bestemyanova said in a commentary on RT.

She also explained that in Lithuania there is no show of such a level as in Russia, and therefore Margarita and Povilas are forced to live and work in another country.

“It will offend them greatly.

They fought for medals as part of the Lithuanian national team and defended the interests of the state.

It is not very clear why they are now being punished.

You can't treat big athletes like that.

After all, they are the legends of Lithuania, and they spit in their direction.

I love this couple very much.

They are great guys and great professionals.

I treat them with great respect.

Believe me, Margarita and Povilas never got into politics - creativity has always been the main thing for them.

And they could do it only in Russia, because, I repeat, there are no opportunities for this at home, ”added Bestemyanova.

At the same time, in her opinion, one should not be afraid of a possible outflow of foreigners from domestic shows due to pressure at home, since Russia has enough of its own strong skaters.

Only the athletes themselves, who will lose good earnings, can lose from this.

Three-time Olympic champion Irina Rodnina spoke even tougher.

She recalled that Drobyazko and Vanagas, in fact, alone for many years defended the honor of Lithuania in figure skating.

“This small country has long surprised us all with its stupidity and aggressiveness.

Unfortunately, there is nothing to marvel at here.

Probably, this is the only opportunity to somehow remind yourself, especially in figure skating, ”Rodnina emphasized.

As for the possible refusal of foreigners to participate in events taking place in Russia, she, like Bestemyanova, did not see anything terrible in this.

“Probably in other countries they deliberately make people afraid to go to our shows, they try to intimidate them.

A program is being implemented for the total isolation of Russia in all areas.

But we have someone to perform without them.

Believe me, there are no such shows in any country in Europe.

It is their skaters who will lose a great opportunity to skate.

They themselves have always come here with pleasure, because they cannot earn money anywhere else.

Plus, they always communicated well with our guys, ”added Rodnina.