'Inhumane' - 2018 Olympic champion Aljona Savchenko ‘speechless’ after seeing figure skaters at Putin rally

Former Olympic and world figure skating champion Aljona Savchenko has told Eurosport that she was left “speechless” when she saw figure skaters at a pro-war rally in Moscow recently. Inside the Games reported that the figure skaters — understood to be Nikita Katsalapov, Victoria Sinitsina, Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov — were photographed standing on stage during a pro-war rally organised last week by Vladimir Putin to drum up support for his invasion of Ukraine. Ad/> Savchenko, who was born in Ukraine but represented Germany, told Eurosport: “I was speechless when I saw that.

World ChampionshipsChen to miss 2022 World Championships with 'nagging injury'16/03/2022 AT 16:42 /> “It is very painful what is happening between Ukraine and Russia. Children and people are dying, countries are being destroyed — it's a catastrophe. “And these athletes are celebrating it and supporting this gala.

It's inhumane. However, I don't know if they went there voluntarily or not. There are rumours that they had to or were forced to.

Unfortunately, I can't assess it..” Savchenko went on to say that her family are still trapped in Mariupol, a region in Ukraine, adding that they are running out of food. She called the situation in the country a “humanitarian disaster.” “Unfortunately, there was bad news on Monday. My family comes from the region around Mariupol.

A relative was injured there. He is only 17 years old. The other family members are in a cellar, but they can't get out.

“There is no food there either. If it continues like this for a few more days, they will die due to lack of food. It is a humanitarian disaster.