Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council and former president, has suggested ‘sinking Great Britain’ as a way to solve the country’s problems with London.
The former president was responding to a statement made late last month by renowned Russian skiing champion Elena Vyalbe. In an interview with NEWS.ru outlet, the three-time Olympic champion and head of Russia’s Cross-Country Skiing Federation slammed the West for banning the country’s athletes from most international sports tournaments in response to the Ukraine conflict.
Vyalbe claimed that “if we had dropped a serious bomb in the center of London, it would have all been over by now and we would have been allowed everywhere.”
Medvedev, who has become known for his sharp language in social media posts, argued that there are more effective ways to deal with the problem than bombing.
“Our famous skier Elena Vyalbe suggested dropping a bomb on London. She’s right, of course, but we need to solve the problem radically and just sink the damned island of Anglo-Saxon dogs,” Medvedev said. He did not elaborate on whether ‘the problem’ refers to sports or the state of Russia’s relations with the UK in general.
The UK and NATO have sided with Ukraine in its conflict with Russia, providing Kiev with financial and military aid and placing sanctions on Moscow. London was among 30 nations that urged the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to uphold a ban it had placed on Russian and Belarusian athletes when it proposed allowing them to compete in the Summer Olympics this year.
Most Western-based sports bodies banned Russia and Belarus from taking part in international sports tournaments shortly after the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, including the IOC, FIFA, FIDE, and others. Moscow has repeatedly criticized the restrictions.
In her interview, Vyalbe slammed the IOC, calling it a “trash heap” that is “engaged in who knows what, but certainly not honest sport.” She added that while “sports has always been tied with politics,” the sweeping bans on athletes for political reasons “no longer resemble sport at all.”