MOSCOW, Aug 10 Head of the State Duma Sports Committee Dmitry Svishchev (LDPR) called the decree on the exclusion of figure skaters Margarita Drobyazko and Povilas Vanagas from the list of holders of the Order of Gediminas of the fifth degree an «unprecedented boorish act», and also said that Russia would monitor the development of the situation with athletes. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda on Wednesday signed a decree on the exclusion of figure skaters Margarita Drobyazko and Povilas Vanagas from the list of holders of the Order of Gediminas of the fifth degree. The couple were awarded awards in 2000. The decision to deprive them was made in connection with the performance in Tatyana Navka's ice show «Swan Lake» in Sochi. According to Nauseda, the couple «crossed out their services to Lithuania with a cynical act of participation in a commercial event in Sochi.» awards and even citizenship. State awards have already been deprived. I have never heard or seen anything like this. Champions who have won medals for the country and love (winter) sports, where very few medals are awarded. And instead of idolizing and creating conditions for them to continue work, raising children (they were deprived of awards) … Any country should be proud of its heroes, and here they promise to make outcasts from the heroes. Russia, I think, should lend a helping hand to them. We will closely monitor the development of events, «said Svishchev. Drobyazko and Vanagas represented Lithuania at the Olympic Games and World Championships, where they managed to win one bronze medal. The couple is a multiple national champion. Drobyazko received Lithuanian citizenship in 1993.
