Chelsea FC manager Thomas Tuchel made a passionate protest against answering questions about Russia's conflict with Ukraine and on Russian owner Roman Abramovich at a press conference.
The German tactician was speaking ahead of his team's FA Cup fifth-round meeting with Luton Town on Wednesday, yet reporters continually tried to push Tuchel to comment on the Russian military offensive and the future of Abramovich, who announced he was handing over care of Chelsea to its trustees at the weekend.
When a journalist mentioned Tuchel's previous comments on the "horrors of war" and attempted to press him into commenting on the Blues owner once more, Tuchel cut the reporter off by demanding: "Listen, listen, listen you have to stop."
"I'm not a politician," Tuchel stressed.
"You have to stop, honestly, I can only repeat it and I even feel bad to repeat it because I've never experienced war.
"So even to talk about it I feel bad because I'm very privileged – I sit here in peace," Tuchel went on. "And I do the best I can but you have to stop asking me these questions [because] I have no answers for you."
Tuchel's comments come after reports emerged on Monday that Abramovich was calledon by Ukraine to broker peace with his homeland, as claimed by the Russian businessman's spokesperson.
Ukrainian film director Alexander Rodnyansky said that Abramovich had supposedly taken a role in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in the Gomel region in Belarus.
While Tuchel has been Chelsea manager since January 2021, when he replaced club legend Frank Lampard in the dugout before going on to win the west Londoner team's second Champions League crown, Abramovich bought the Blues in 2003 and has overseen them lifting 21 trophies in total.