Photo: Barbara Swier/EyeEm/Getty Images
There was a surreal spectacle on the podium of the Equipment World Cup this weekend in Doha: On Sunday, a Russian gymnast named Ivan Kulyak, wearing an invasion symbol on his chest, stood next to Ukrainian gold medalist Ilya Kovtun. In the past few months, the white “Z” on Kulyak’s shirt – an emerging symbol of far-right pro-invasion nationalists in Russia – has been seen on Russian tanks and on the clothes of pro-war politicians, as well as on shirts, bus stops and cars.
Russian gymnast Ivan Kulyak, wearing the invasion symbol “Z” on his T-shirt, shares the podium with a Ukrainian rival on Saturday.
Kulyak finished third, losing to Ukrainian winner Ilya Kovtun in parallel bars at the World Cup in Doha. pic.twitter.com/evtG1iEBgq
— Megha Mohan (@meghamohan) March 6, 2022
In the weeks since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, several Russian athletes have expressed anti-war sentiment, and many public and business figures have joined in openly condemning the actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Over the weekend, thousands of Russian citizens took to the streets to protest the invasion despite the risk of jail time, and more than 3,000 protesters were arrested. In the meantime, Putin has launched propaganda and disinformation campaigns to convince Russian citizens of the justification for the war and to greatly restrict the flow of information in and out of Russia, including blocking access to Facebook and major foreign news outlets.
For his part, Kulyak didn’t say anything to clarify what he meant by wearing the symbol, while the head of the Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation reportedly told the Russian outlet, “I don’t think Ivan wanted to put on a special demonstration.” but we will support it anyway.” The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) has announced that it has opened “disciplinary proceedings” against him, although Sunday was already probably his last chance to compete for the foreseeable future: FIG sanctions against Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials that were a direct response to the invasion entered into force on Monday.
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