The distinguished coach of the USSR, Tatyana Tarasova, criticized the Lithuanian Interior Ministry for asking the country’s president, Gitanas Nausėda, for citizenship only to figure skater Margarita Drobyazko.
“Some stupid people. She has done so much for the country, an athlete with such accomplishments, at the highest level. People who do such things with their athletes are simply “incredible,” TASS says, citing Tarasova.
In August 2022, President Nauseda decided to strip Drobiazko of state awards.
The 51-year-old figure skater received Lithuanian citizenship in 1993. In 2000, Drobyazko and his partner Povilas Vanagas were awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Gediminas for their services to Lithuania.
