Athletistic/ Figure Skating. The Russian President’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov commented on the remarks of figure skating coach Eteri Tutberidze, who believes that the marks of figure skaters and the drawing of titles in competitions should be suspended due to the absence of Russian athletes at tournaments.

“She’s absolutely right. If we’re talking about figure skating, our athletes are among the strongest in the world. And any ranking, wherever compiled, any international competition, wherever it takes place, cannot be complete without the participation of our athletes.” noted Peskov.

Earlier, Eteri Tutberidze called “absurd” the International Skating Union’s (ISU) decision to keep updating skater rankings and awarding titles in the absence of Russian athletes. Eteri was supported by Tatyana Tarasova, honored coach of the USSR in figure skating, Russian State Duma deputies Dmitry Svishchev and Roman Teryushkov, producer Yana Rudkovskaya and many other people from the world of sports, politics and other areas.

There were also those who criticized Eteri for her lyrics. Four-time Olympic biathlon champion Alexander Tikhonov urged Tutberidze to “think carefully with his head, and only then talk about this topic.”