MOSCOW, August 4 Former figure skater Vladislav Tarasenko, husband of 2014 Olympic champion in team competitions Yulia Lipnitskaya, who was called up to the armed forces as part of partial mobilization in the fall of 2022, said that his wife understood his decision to take part in the SVO.
Tarasenko serves in the Zaporizhia region, participated, in particular, in repelling the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
«She (Lipnitskaya) saw that I had been following this (SVO) from the beginning. She already understood, most likely, that sooner or later — and I understood it too — we would end up there. The summons came. That's why she didn't have such a violent reaction. Because everything was already clear before that,» Tarasenko said.
«I'm a figure skater, this is not my path, but somehow it's become a tradition in our family: if you have to, then you have to. What are the options? If they called me up, then you have to go. My father, of course, supported me, he understands everything. He told me where to be careful, gave advice. Naturally, my parents are worried. My colleagues were surprised to learn that I was a figure skater. They asked me what I was doing here. And the jokes started: teach me how to do a toe loop, all that stuff. We have a very friendly company, a friendly platoon, a friendly squad. In this regard, we are all the same here, we do the same work, the same tasks. You could say, brothers,» — added Tarasenko.