The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine is demanding that the International Olympic Committee conduct an internal investigation into who allowed a Russian woman to carry Ukraineʼs sign at the opening of the Olympic Games in Milan.
This was reported at a briefing by Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi.
The day before, the Associated Press (AP) wrote that during the opening ceremony, a sign with the inscription "Ucraina" was carried in front of the Ukrainian Olympians by Russian Anastasia Kucherova. She is an architect, has lived in Milan for 14 years and has not visited Russia since 2018.
She says the distribution of countries among the volunteers was random, but when the choreographer asked if the volunteers had any preferences, Kucherova chose Ukraine. AP calls her actions “a small act of resistance”, and her story is a way for the Russian to remind the world that the war continues, even as life goes on elsewhere.
“When you walk next to these people, you understand that they have every right to feel hatred for any Russian. Nevertheless, I think it is important to do even a small act to show them that maybe not all people think the same way. Ukrainians have no way to escape these thoughts or ignore the existence of war. So this is their reality. They continue to love each other, or get married, or play sports, or go to the Olympics. But all this is happening against a destructive background,” she told AP.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi called the very fact that IOC chose a Russian woman to carry the Ukrainian flag disgusting. According to him, this goes beyond any human morality and any principles.
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