Kremlin Regrets Kiev's Decision To Abstain From Sending Team To Universiade In Krasnoyarsk

Kremlin Regrets Kiev's Decision to Abstain From Sending Team to Universiade in Krasnoyarsk

Kremlin regrets that the Ukrainian authorities have decided not to send their national team to the 29th Winter Universiade in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, believing that the decision was politically motivated and ignored the athletes' interests, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th February, 2019) Kremlin regrets that the Ukrainian authorities have decided not to send their national team to the 29th Winter Universiade in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, believing that the decision was politically motivated and ignored the athletes' interests, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

Last week, the Ukrainian authorities announced that their national team would not take part in the Universiade, which will be held on March 2-12. Oleg Matytsin, the president of the International University Sports Federation (FISU), voiced regret. According to Matytsin, Ukraine notified FISU of its decision to abstain from sending the team to the Universiade due to financial difficulties half a year ago, with the federation swiftly offering financial help. However, the offer has remained unanswered, with the deadline for teams' registration expired.

"We can only express regret in this regard. We regret that politicians have made such a decision, while students, athletes, suffer from these decisions," Peskov told reporters.

Peskov noted that the Ukrainian authorities thereby again "shoot themselves in the foot," adding that Ukrainians would hardly benefit from the move.

"I do not believe that the majority of athletes are glad about it. I believe that they would be glad to take part in the Universiade," he said.

As for the Universiade, he expressed confidence that the international sports competition among students in Krasnoyarsk would be very colorful and organized at a high level.

The program of the games includes competitions in 11 sports. It is expected that the sports event would draw over 3,000 participants from 59 countries.