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Close to Putin: Russia’s Olympic swimming champion Rylov suspended

Dhe world swimming association FINA has suspended the two-time Russian Olympic champion from Tokyo, Yevgeny Rylow, for nine months. The association announced this on its website on Thursday. The trigger was Rylow’s participation in the eight-year anniversary of the illegal annexation of Crimea on March 18.

At the event, held at the Luzhniki Olympic Stadium in Moscow, President Putin made a speech defending the war of aggression in Ukraine. “My lawyers are dealing with the situation,” Rylov told Russian media. “We are carefully examining the substance of the case and the allegations against me.”

The swimmer, voted Sportsman of the Year in Russia in 2021, is not aware of any guilt and is considering a challenge. “I went on stage and sang our anthem at a concert dedicated to the eighth anniversary of the reunification of Crimea and Sevastopol with Russia and I was wearing clothes with the letter Z. I don’t understand what I should have done. “

Russian MP Dmitri Swishchev criticized the suspension as “hysteria” and “Russophobia reminiscent of National Socialism”: “This decision must be challenged,” he said. “Rylow expressed his civic position, and to exclude him for that is to violate all international rules. FINA has joined the politicized federations that discriminate against Russian athletes without reason.”

Rylov’s suspension, who, like all Russian and Belarusian swimmers, is also excluded from all events until the end of 2022, ends on January 19, 2023.

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