MOSCOW, February 18 Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko called the comments of the President of the International Thomas Bach Olympic Committee regarding the relationship between Kamila Valieva and her coaches. His words were quoted by the Inside the Games portal. Earlier, the head of the IOC said that he was shocked at how coldly her coaches met Valiev when she left the ice after a free program at the Olympics, and expressed the opinion that such behavior of the athlete’s environment does not give confidence in her future . He added that the committee would look into whether there were signs of child abuse in Valieva's case and promised that those responsible would face the harshest punishment.
"We are disappointed that the IOC president is creating his own fictional stories about the feelings of our athletes and then releases them publicly as the voice of the IOC. This is frankly inappropriate and wrong", — said Chernyshenko.
The deputy head of government stressed that at the Olympics every athlete is under extreme pressure. “Whether win or lose, we know that Russian athletes are world class and they know it too. Russia still won gold and silver medals in the singles competition thanks to Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova, they both train with Tutberidze «, he added.