"I returned to my historical homeland": Ukrainian rowing champion Zhalinska flees to Russia. PHOTO
Ukrainian rowing champion and National Guard member Larysa Zhalinska said she had travelled to Russia on a tourist ticket to visit her "historic homeland".
According to Censor.NET, the interview with Zhalinska was published by the Russian propaganda outlet Russia Today.
She served in the National Guard of Ukraine and went on leave, after which she travelled to Moscow via the Czech Republic. Zhalinska told propagandists that Prymorsk in Zaporizhzhia region, where she is from, is part of the occupying country.
"Today, many people qualify my actions as an escape to Russia, but I would not consider it an escape. I would call it a return to my homeland, my historical homeland. I am Russian by nationality, my hometown is Primorsk, Zaporizhzhia region of the Russian Federation, I have always been a Russian speaker, I managed to graduate from the Pushkin Russian school in Zaporizhzhia," says Zhalinska.
According to her, in order to avoid attracting attention at the military unit, she used the right to go on leave abroad on a tourist ticket to the Czech Republic and secretly obtained a "second passport".
"It was with this passport that I later crossed the border. Earlier, with the help of Telegram channels and friends from Russia, I found carriers who take me from Lviv to Poland and help me find carriers who are already crossing the Polish-Belarusian border through special chats. Also, with the help of friends from Russia, I bought a ticket for the Minsk-Moscow flight," the traitor told the Russian media.
In an interview with propagandists, she urged other willing athletes to leave Ukraine and claimed that "sport is much more honest in Russia".
Reaction of the Ukrainian Rowing Federation
The President of the URF, Volodymyr Vlasenko, commented on the scandal with Zhalinska, who left for Russia.
The position is as follows: lifetime disqualification and deprivation of titles and awards. The decision has already been made, voted by the Executive Committee and submitted to the Ministry of Youth and Sports. As soon as we found out and watched the video on YouTube, there was an immediate reaction from the Zaporizhzhia Regional Federation. Then came the decision from the athletes' commission," he said.
According to him, Zhalinska was not under contract with the national team.
"She is a weak rower, to be honest. She competed in the lightweight division, which is a division in which no one has ever been particularly considered for the Olympic Games. She's "so-so", just a statistic. She clearly has some kind of mental disability. There is no exaggeration here. I haven't talked to her like that, but I know that there have always been some mental problems," Vlasenko added.
What we know about Larysa Zhalinska
Zhalinska was awarded the title of international master of sports of Ukraine in rowing in 2021. She won bronze at the World Indoor Rowing Championships. Larysa covered a distance of 14,921 metres in 60 minutes on the machine.
In 2023, Larysa won five medals at the Ukrainian Cup. At the last World Cup in 2024, she won two bronze and one silver.
