MOSCOW, Apr 11 Russian driver Artem Severyukhin said that after winning the At the first stage of the European Karting Championship, he used a gesture resembling a Nazi salute to thank the team and his relatives from Russia. The competition was held in Portimao, Portugal. On the podium, the Russian, speaking under the Italian flag due to the sanctions of the International Automobile Federation (FIA), used the “Roman salute” gesture (hit his chest and extended his right hand forward). “I would like to appeal to everyone. About yesterday's situation on the podium «I won the stage of the European Championship and I was very happy. I'm from Russia. I thanked the team and my relatives from Russia. Someone saw a bad gesture in my actions, it's not. I just thanked. I'm Russian, I'm from Russia and for his country,» Maria Melnikova, press secretary of the Russian Automobile Federation (RAF), quotes Severyukhin in her Telegram channel. According to Melnikova, the RAF will make an official statement later, when the federation will deal with the situation thoroughly. winner of the Russian championship in karting 2019 and 2020. At the moment, the FIA has not officially commented on the incident.
