Athletes of the Ukrainian national team during the parade of athletes at the opening ceremony of the XXIV Winter Olympic Games in BeijingMOSCOW, 4 Feb. A sports reporter for Euronews channel was not restrained when commenting on alleged recommendations to Ukrainian Olympians regarding Russian athletes and the Russian language at the Beijing Olympics.
"The Ministry of Sports advised athletes not to stand next to Russians, and do not give interviews in Russian. It's amazing!" — the journalist said at the moment when the Ukrainian team passed in front of the cameras at the opening ceremony. The Ukrainian news portal "Strana" drew attention to this.
Special rules for Ukrainian athletes, in particular, biathletes, were previously reported by the media. According to them, the recommendations were given by the Ministry of Sports of the country at a meeting on January 20. These reports were not officially confirmed. After the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo in Ukraine, a scandal erupted due to a joint photo of the bronze medalist in high jump Yaroslava Maguchy with the Russian woman Maria Lasitskene, who won the gold medal. Some Ukrainian media and nationalists criticized the photo. The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, after a conversation with Maguchy, regarded the picture as «a consequence of emotions.» Maguchy is a junior lieutenant of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Winter Olympics in Beijing will be held from 4 to 20 February.