MOSCOW, July 27 Biathlete Lydia Zhurauskaite stated that she does not consider herself a traitor due to the change of Russian citizenship to Lithuanian. Earlier, the media wrote about the plans of the athlete to compete at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy for the Lithuanian team. On July 22, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the renunciation of the citizenship of the Russian Federation by Zhurauskaite, who was born in Murmansk. : in Lithuania, financially, I get less than in my region, so it's not even about money. I just wanted to try myself, the more they really are interested in me, «said the 23-year-old biathlete» Match TV. The team coach approached me, then I had a conversation with the President of the Lithuanian Biathlon Federation. They found me in the protocols of the All-Russian competitions. They just saw the Lithuanian surname. Already then we began to collect documents, and in March 2021 it became known that I would be given citizenship, since in It is very difficult for Lithuania to get it. Immediately after that, I was invited to the training camp, and since May 2021 I have already trained with the Lithuanian team,» Zhurauskaite added.
