MOSCOW, August 29, Oleg Bogatov. Four-time Olympic champion in Biathlon Alexander Tikhonov said that he condemns the Ukrainian athlete Yaroslav Maguchy for provocative words after winning the World Championships, but this should not be focused on.
On Sunday, Maguchikh won the high jump at the tournament in Budapest with a score of 2.01 m. Celebrating her success, she shouted out a Ukrainian nationalist slogan. The episode was included in the official broadcast of the competition.
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"We had 150 times more victories in the USSR and Russia, but we never shouted that we were the best. And that (Nestor) Makhno is ours. I don't want to speak indiscriminately about all the people of Ukraine, but many of them are nationalists. And General (Pavel) Sudoplatov said that a nationalist in the tenth generation will be a nationalist. And, of course, I condemn it. If I were at the helm, I would resolve such issues in international federations in a different way. Unfortunately, we can't decide anything right now. But I would not focus too much on such attacks. I think that everything will be over soon, and it is desirable that all these Nazis kneel,» Tikhonov said, commenting on the situation.
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"If she (Maguchikh) was told so, how will she behave? They have such a situation, they are weak-willed, but we see that they are already dragging children to the front line. They don't think about the people, they don't think about Ukraine. They have to thank Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin for the fact that Western Ukraine did not remain in Poland. Either they do not know the history, or one thing has seized everyone — Stepan Bandera. We called them Bandera all our lives. I trained in Western Ukraine, they hated us even then. We are a huge great power, we need to think about Russia. And do not be ashamed of this — neither in sports, nor in everything else, «the expert emphasized.
After the end of the competition, the athlete approached the fans to celebrate the victory. Tatyana Stepanova, Maguchy's coach, who was on the podium, shouted the nationalist slogan «glory to Ukraine», to which Maguchy replied «glory to the heroes.» «Glory to Ukraine» is the slogan of the «Ukrainian Insurgent Army» (UPA, an extremist organization banned in the Russian Federation). The glorification of the UPA and its leaders, Bandera and Roman Shukhevych, is criticized by many veterans of the Great Patriotic War and politicians who accuse Bandera of collaborating with the Nazis.