The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry is demanding that the International Olympic Committee conduct an internal investigation into who allowed a Russian woman to carry Ukraine’s sign at the opening of the Olympic Games in Milan.
The day before, the Associated Press reported that during the opening ceremony, a sign reading “Ucraina” was carried by Russian Anastasia Kucherova in front of Ukrainian Olympians. 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. Still, when the choreographer asked if the volunteers had any preferences, Kucherova chose Ukraine. The AP calls her actions “a small act of resistance,” and the story about them is the Russian woman’s way of reminding the world that the war continues, even as life goes on in other places.
However, Foreign Ministry spokesman Georgy Tykhyi called the very fact that the IOC chose a Russian woman to carry the Ukrainian flag disgusting. According to him, this goes beyond any human morality and any principles.
