Zakharova said about the “chauvinistic receptions” of the Netherlands against gymnasts
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the Netherlands’ refusal of visas to the leaders of the Russian national team a “chauvinistic and fraudulent device” aimed at weakening the Russian team before the World Cup
The Dutch authorities, who did not issue visas for participation in the World Cup to the leaders of the Russian national gymnastics team, “slid to blatantly chauvinistic fraudulent tricks” aimed at weakening the Russian team. This opinion was expressed by the official representative of the Russian foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova.
According to Zakharova, at first, the Embassy of the Netherlands in Moscow did not accept visa applications for the national team for a long time, and then “in the mode of artificially created time constraints” still issued visas, but not to all athletes. Under a far-fetched pretext, citing the position of unnamed EU allies, visas were denied to the strongest and most decorated Russian gymnasts who claimed high awards. “Sliding to blatantly chauvinistic fraudulent techniques specifically aimed at weakening our team is quite consistent with the current moral image of the Dutch authorities,” Zakharova said.
The official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on international sports federations to take into account when choosing a host country for certain tournaments that “the Netherlands is not able to ensure fair and impartial conduct of competitions.”.
The World Cup kicked off in Rotterdam on October 17. Leaders of the women’s team of Russia Olympic champions Angelina Melnikova and Victoria Listunova, as well as European champion Anna Kalmykova Netherlands visas denied. The International Gymnastics Federation on October 14 regretted the decision, but stressed that the issuance of visas is a process that is determined exclusively by the Dutch authorities.
