European Championship medalist Sergei Litvinov condemns the attack on his country’s administration in Ukraine. He is a clear exception among Russian athletes.
– I left Russia three years ago because I didn’t want my son to grow up in that system. The decision was extremely difficult, but I realized that our country’s system was dangerous. However, I could never have imagined that things would go to this point.
As a former top athlete Sergei Litvinov36, read last weekend Thursday morning the first news of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the overriding feeling was disbelief.
– I first thought it was a lie. I was in the fog all Thursday. Only now is the industry gradually realizing what has happened, Litvinov tells Urheil via video call.
Litvinov won the European Championship bronze medal in the hammer throw at Zurich in 2014. His coach of the same name was one of the most famous athletics stars in the Soviet Union. Sergei Litvinov senior was a two-time world champion, Olympic champion and ME man of his time.
Litvinov junior is known as an outspoken person who, in his career, criticizes the rampant doping culture in Russian athletics. After ending his active career three years ago, Litvinov moved with his family to Germany, where he now coaches young athletes.
As information about the situation in Ukraine began to spread, Litvinov, who was networking across Eastern Europe, began to receive concerns.
– Relatives, friends, many people have called. My Russian acquaintances are panicking. Many want to leave the country. Many do not know what to do. Their relatives believe Putin, which tears families apart. I have a lot of Ukrainian friends from sports circles. They have been in a lot of contact and said they are not sure if they will survive, Litvinov says.
Litvinov has long been silent when asked what his own view of the current situation is.
– I want to say that I love my country of birth and Russian culture. But I hate our administration, he says.
– This administration has been on its way to the current situation for years. The fact that our people did not understand it in time and could not prevent this from happening is hugely distressing.
Litvinov is fighting his own struggle against the Russian propaganda machinery by publishing information about the events in Ukraine on his social media channels and challenging the allegations made by the Russian authorities. He has added the flag of Ukraine to his Facebook profile picture.
– I don’t know how not to do that at a time like this. I try to inform people as much as I can. Many of my acquaintances in Russia do not get enough information or understand what is happening.
– I try to find videos, photos, interviews, any evidence that shows propaganda as a lie and forces people to question it. The Ukrainians are now at war on their soil, but there is also an information war inside Russia.
As in all of Russia, there are people in Litvinov’s circle of acquaintances whose views vary from side to side. He says the majority of Russians he knows are opposed to the war. However, few dare to say it out loud.
– The repression of people in Russia has worsened year by year. The change has been huge. People are afraid.
Fear also dominates the minds of athletes. In addition to Litvinov, the most prominent opponents of the war have been the volleyball legend Jekaterina Gamova, 41, who wrote in his Instagram that events in Ukraine are a shameful page in Russian history. However, the vast majority of Russian athletes have avoided the painful subject.
– Why are there so few athletes who publicly support Ukraine or oppose the war? Not because they wouldn’t oppose all of this, but because they’re afraid. Many of them are part of the TsSKA, the FSB, ie they are part of the system. Many of them do not know… We have been instilled with fear for years, Litvinov sighs.
The war is fierce, not least because many Russian and Ukrainian athletes have been at warm intervals. Litvinov recalls the 2014 European Championships, where representatives of the fraternal peoples enjoyed themselves despite the war in eastern Ukraine.
– Many Ukrainians already had a negative attitude towards Russia at the time because of what happened in eastern Ukraine. At the Zurich Games, however, the athletes found a connection. We celebrated and hung out together. There were people from different political backgrounds in the crowd, but no one said a bad word to another. People realized that there were completely similar people opposite them.
Now some of the Ukrainians known to Litvinov have dressed in combat gear and set out to defend their country. Ukrainian athletes have demanded that their Russian colleagues stand up against their regime and publicly condemn the actions of those in power.
– Ukrainian athletes do not understand why their Russian colleagues are silent in this situation. But as I have explained, there are reasons for that, Litvinov says.
– In recent years, we have had a few athletes who have made bold exits. However, it is a different matter to talk about the doping problem than things that are important to Putin. It is no longer a matter of athletes fearing losing their jobs. Russia has a system of repression that nothing can be predicted. There are no clear rules. It is also a tactic to keep people quiet.
Due to the war in Ukraine, international sports federations have excluded Russian athletes from numerous sporting events. International competitions for Russia have been canceled one after another.
– At the moment, sports are over in Russia. That was already clear when the war began. I don’t understand how sports can develop from this in Russia, Litvinov says.
According to Litvinov, no one in his circle of acquaintances blames the Ukrainians for the sports band, although in the midst of fierce propaganda by the Russian authorities, it could be easy. Litvinov believes everyone is deeply aware of why this has happened.
The biggest concern is bigger than sports and one’s own business.
– One of my athlete friends said, “The worst thing is, I don’t know what I’ll tell my kids when they grow up. I don’t know which side of history I’ve been on.”
In a desperate situation, hope has been given by people who have gathered across Russia to protest for peace. They have opposed the president Vladimir Putin activities under threat of prison sentences and beatings.
– Those people are heroes. It’s not about naive young people, there are people out there who have seen the oppression and understand the hardships they can face, Litvinov says.
– Hope dies last. I do not know when I will go to Russia next time, but I hope that one day I will come to a free country without Putin and this system. Then I am happy that it is all over.