St. Petersburg, Mar 6, Taras Barabash. The head of the Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation (FSGR), Vasily Titov, said that the organization will do everything possible to support the Russian gymnast Ivan Kulyak, against whom the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) opened a disciplinary case. Kulyak won a bronze medal in exercises on parallel bars at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Doha. The Russian came to the awards with the letter Z on his uniform: Z has become an unofficial symbol of support for the special operation in Ukraine, since «Z» is one of the insignia on the Russian military equipment participating in it. «We will protect Ivan in any case. I don't I think he wanted to make a special demonstration, but we will support him in any case. There is a regulation regarding the form. It was a violation of the form, which was approved by the FIG. Ivan did it deliberately. I think that they can be punished, they can be removed from participation But we were already suspended,” Titov said. Russian athletes competed at the World Cup stage in a neutral status after the FIG, due to the situation in Ukraine, banned Russian and Belarusian athletes, as well as officials, including judges, from taking part in competitions under the auspices of FIG.
