Today, she is a mystery: injured, chagrined and unable to land all but the easiest of the triple jumps. As journalist Dan Cohen, For his part, Shariy has been placed on the notorious Myrotvorets public blacklist of enemies of the state founded by Anton Geraschenko the Ministry of Internal Affairs advisor who endorsed the assassination of Ukrainian lawmakers accused of Russian sympathies. Reportedly a member of the Ukrainian military intelligence service. Elena Berezhnaya, a well-known human rights activist is also arrested. Accused of: passing information about an airport to the Russians. By March, she was standing on the ice with Sikharulidze; in May, they began to skate together. Then came Igors turn. In 1996, her partner at that time, Oleg Shlyakhov, while rotating on a skate, pierced her temple and damaged Elena's cerebral cortex. Elena Viktorovna Berezhnaya ( Russian: , born 11 October 1977) is a Russian former pair skater. We are good skaters, and we are good guys,"he toldESPN. Her speech was "damaged," Moskvina said. Kamila Valieva, the 15-year-old Russian superstar who was expected to deliver her nation its third straight Olympic gold medal in womens figure skating, tested positive for a banned heart medication before the Beijing Games, the Russian newspaper RBC reported. Doctors cleaned out the wound and hoped for the best. In fact, the image was pulled from footage originally recorded by Patrick Lancaster, a Donetsk-based US journalist who had filmed the corpse of a woman tortured and murdered by members of the Ukrainian Azov Battalion in a Mariupol school basement they had converted into a base. The SBU has a harrowing track record of serious human right abuses, which continues today. Sign up to get important news and culture from around the Northwest, delivered to your inbox six days a week. Ref:Times of Israel/Daily Mail/Kyiv Independent. Notice the other insignia, one SS Galicia of WW2 notoriety. The complete story of the 2002 Olympic figure skating scandal is told in a four-part documentary series streaming on Peacock. Berezhnaya, who was eighth at the 1994 Olympic Games in Norway with Sliakhov, never lost consciousness after the accident, Moskvina said. . Take action today! "I am rather emotional, but I won't cry," she said. These reports made for grim reading, yet no one in the corporate Western media dare to make references to these, but instead continue to whitewash the hideous crimes committed by Ukrainian law enforcement & military units. On the battlefield, meanwhile, the Ukrainian military has engaged in a series of atrocities against captured Russian troops and proudly exhibited its sadistic acts on social media. Once upon a time, there would have been prisoners of conscience that Amnesty International would have supported and denounced human right abuses, now it is a case of total amnesia, right across the board, a deadly silence reigns over the widespread instances of human right abuses and atrocities, unless it is finger pointing at Russia. Notes:gunned down while resisting arrest. Horrid glimpses into these detentions were provided: Several also alleged that after being transferred to SBU premises they were, variously, beaten, subjected to electric shocks, and threatened with rape, execution, and retaliation against family members, to induce them to confess to involvement with separatism-related criminal activities or to provide information. Russian skaters in particular have a history of positive results dating to 2000, when decorated pairs skater Elena Berezhnaya was stripped of a gold medal from the European championships for . . "The joy has come out of it." Last year, she narrowly lost her title to Michelle Kwan. Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs, celebrated the mayors murder, Telegram post by Anton Gerashchenko, advisor to the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs, celebrating the assassination of traitor and Kreminna Mayor Volodymyr Struk, On March 7, the mayor of Gostomel, Yuri Prylipko, was found murdered. Against the background of rampant corruption, by the end of 2021, Ukraine fell to 122nd place out of 180 countries in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (Transparency International, 2021). Ref: According to social media information, subscribers denounced that an anti-Russian statement was published on his Youtube channel The Capital. The couple stood on the ice for the first time last March. Russian skaters in particular have a history of positive results dating to 2000, when decorated pairs skater Elena Berezhnaya was stripped of a gold medal from the European championships for . Former leader of the Union of Left Forces, Ref: wrote on his FB page: The SBU has arrived, Assistant to a deputy of the opposition party OPZZH (Opposition Platform for Life). The increasing levels of lawlessness and repression makes it very difficult to collect precise information. A glimpse of some of the attitudes tolerated within the law enforcement structures, starting with 2018, when an ex-SBU adviser, former deputy in the Rada, member of the far-right nationalist party Svoboda [Freedom], Yuri Michalchyshyn, advocated the following: To propagate a total extermination of the Kremlin vultures and ghouls, local traitors and turncoats, its voluntary helpers and accomplices instead of reconciliation with the traitors of the Motherland and the enemies of the Ukrainian people.. Ref: Article/ Current status is unknown although alleged to have been killed. Berezhnaya, who was eighth at the 1994 Olympic Games in Norway with Sliakhov, never lost consciousness after the accident, Moskvina said. The three-time Olympic champion served a three-month ban in 2014. In fact, the Ukrainian government has begunusing notoriously invasive facial recognition technologyfromClearview AI,a US tech company, to identify Russian casualties and taunt their relatives on social media. (HRW 2016). The Ukrainian security service known as the SBU has served as the main enforcer of the post-Maidan governments campaign of domestic political repression. The road to victory turned out to be incredibly difficult. As journalist Dan Cohenreported, Anatoly Shariy of the recently banned Party of Shariy said he was the target of a recent SBU assassination attempt. Together Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze won 27 gold, 9 silver and 5 bronze medals, all in . He was released by the SBU the next day. Ref:No contact or information on his current status. The Elena Berezhnaya and Steven Cousins thing was something of a shock a few months ago and it pretty much came out of nowhere but on the back of another shock breakup in the skating world that Cousins was rumoured to have been involved in. Anyone that criticises or is considered as opposing his government, any perceived actions, (current or historical) is duly noted, and thus is likely to get persecuted, detained by either the SBU or irregular paramilitary groups. With Mishin she was the World Silver medalist and competed in the 1968 . With partner Anton Sikharulidze, she is the 1998 and 1999 World champion, 1998 Olympic silver medalist and 2002 Olympic champion. Stay yourself. https://www.theartsofentertainment.com/who-is-dmitri/, https://uofa.ru/en/ukrainskii-institut-pravovoi-politiki-i-socialnoi-zashchity/, https://www.defenddemocracy.press/killing-and-terrorizing-journalists-in-ukraine/, jailed Medvedchuk and charged him with treason, told the leftist German publication Junge Welt, using notoriously invasive facial recognition technology, shooting defenseless Russian POWs in the legs. During training, Oleg Shlyakhov hit the girl's temple with the blade of his skate. The winner will really be the one who lands everything." The SBU informs not only us, but also Azov, the Right Sector, and so on, Karasboastedin a 2017 interview. What Happened To Russian Figure Skating Pair Elena Berezhnaya And Anton Sikharulidze. And she feared him, even though she lived with his family. While one activist said the Azov member cut my hair off with a knife, the state security agents proceeded to torture her husband, Alexander Matjuschenko, pressing a gun barrel to his head and forcing him to repeatedly belt out the nationalist salute, Slava Ukraini!. Date: 16 March 2022, Event: detained, beaten and tortured by ultra-nationalist group, Date: Precise date unknown- 1st week of March 2022. SBU officer, with Right Sector insignia on 6thApril. She was probably one of the only Ukrainian activists who wasn't afraid of the regime. The accident caused partial paralysis on her right side, and doctors were unsure if she would walk again. and charged with treason. Ref:70-year-old native of Kiev, an Orthodox journalist and TV presenter, Pershiy Kozatsky. Two years ago, China's Lu Chen was the world champion of women's skating. The first indication of a problem with the results of the three-day team competition which concluded Monday with Russia winning gold, the U.S. silver and Japan bronze came when the medal ceremony was postponed indefinitely. Performed with "Stars on Ice" during their 2003-2004 touring season. As the remaining fighting in Mariupol is concentrated on the final Ukrainian hold-outs holed-up in the Azovstal Plant in the citys industrial port district, the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) and its notorious extremist Azov Battalion fighters appear to have left dozens of murdered civilians behind, including some with their hands bound indicating an execution, after UAF retreated from their positions embedded among civilians in Mariupol. ". Carried out by Territorial Defense volunteers tasked with enforcing law and order during wartime, these acts of humiliation and torture have targeted everyone from accused Russian sympathizers to Roma people to, Ukraines SBU studies torture and assassination from the CIA, Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, the first head of the SBU after the Euromaidan regime change operation of 2013-14, nurtured close ties to Washington when he served as general consul to the Ukrainian embassy to the US during the George W. Bush administration. Resident give testimony as to the war crimes perpetrated by UAF and Azov fighters. Berezhnaya went to watch an international skating competition there in February 1996, the month she returned to Russia. Elena Berezhnaya Update 1995-96 Champion Series Final The 1995-96 ISU Champions Series Final was held in Paris, France from February 23 through 25, 1996. January 2026, 1997", "Skater's spirit is Olympic-sized Berezhnaya favored for gold 2 years after near-fatal accident", "Winning isn't first for Berezhnaya After near-fatal injury, comeback draws ovations", "Kawaguchi braves taunts to skate for Russia", "A World Title Crowns Berezhnaya's Comeback", "Elena BEREZHNAYA/Anton SIKHARULIDZE: 2001/2002", "Canadians Take Aim At Russians' Long Streak", "Berezhnaya-Sikharulidze impress the judges", "Road ban for drink-driving Olympic skater", "Elena BEREZHNAYA/Anton SIKHARULIDZE: 2000/2001", Elena Berezhnaya & Anton Sikharulidze at PairsOnIce.net, Elena Berezhnaya & Oleg Shliakhov at PairsOnIce.net, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Elena_Berezhnaya&oldid=1152438041, This page was last edited on 30 April 2023, at 07:00. This tragedy happened in 1996. Yelena Berezhnaya took up skating at the age of four and switched from singles to pairs at the age of 13. Apriest is filmedbeing forcibly taken away by a detachment of territorial defense ultra-nationalists (Teroborona), along with parishioners who try to protect him. A Russian-friendly Ukrainian lawmaker has been detained by Ukrainian soldiers after they said he was taking pictures of a military checkpoint in Kyiv, where Ukrainian forces have been fighting Russian invasion since last week. It must remembered that the Ukrainian authorities have continued to use a database, the Mirotvorets (Peacekeeper) website, to highlight those that they consider as enemies of Ukraine. He is known to have links to organised crimes and involvement inextrajudicialkillings. "We are not so clear with that concerning prize money and the financial situation. She was bald then, her head. They used a lighter to heat up a needle, then put it under my fingernails, he told Cohen. She is the heavy favorite. During that time, Nalyvaichenko was, In 2021, Zelensky appointed one of Ukraines most notorious intelligence figures, Oleksander Poklad, to lead SBUs counterintelligence division. Support the news and programs youll rely on in 2023 and beyond! Later that year, ice dancer Anastasia Shakun was given a one-year suspension for taking furosemide after she claimed a pharmacy suggested it for swelling in her eye. Nonselective inhibitors of histone deacetylases (HDAC) can. Despite enduring several broken ribs from the beating by state-backed ultra-nationalists, he has been denied bail. I don't have enough money to buy nine judges. Notably, during the Donbass conflict, the Ukrainian side committed extremely heinous crimes, such burying people alive, beheadings (as reported by Newsweek), pitiless systematic acts of torture, rapes, looting, on a significantly much larger scale compared to the reported crimes committed by the pro-Russian side also featured in these reports. Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, the first head of the SBU after the Euromaidan regime change operation of 2013-14, nurtured close ties to Washington when he served as general consul to the Ukrainian embassy to the US during the George W. Bush administration. Kireev was subsequently. When she first arrived at the hospital in Latvia, she saw a skater who was motionless and speechless. Carried out by Territorial Defense volunteers tasked with enforcing law and order during wartime, these acts of humiliation and torture have targeted everyone from accused Russian sympathizers to Roma people toalleged thieves. According to The Cinemaholic, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze were competitively fearsome prior to their appearance in the 2002 Olympic Games, winning silver in the '98 Olympics. A few weeks ago Gonzalo Lira put out this video relating to THIS hit piece from the Daily Beast, I have taken the time to look up the names in Gonzalos tweet, Volodymyr Oleksiiovych Struk(Ukrainian: ; 15 May 1964 2 March 2022) was a Ukrainian politician. Pro-Western monitors including the United Nations Office of the High Commission (UN OHCR) and, Kiev officially endorses assassinating Ukrainian mayors for negotiating with Russia, On March 1, for example, Volodymyr Strok, the mayor of the eastern city of Kreminna in the Ukrainian-controlled side of Lugansk, was kidnapped by men in military uniform, according to his wife, and, On March 3, pictures of Stroks visibly tortured body appeared. Facebook and other social media platforms also helped in this process by deleting sites and accounts of opposition organisations and individuals. She nursed the skater back to health. The outlawed parties consisted of the entire left-wing, socialist or anti-NATO spectrum in Ukraine. Ryndovskiy also happened to be Jewish, with a Star of David tattooed on his leg, and had spoken out on social media against the war in eastern Ukraine. Accused of: allegedly for having pro-Russian position and suspicion of treason. Moreover, many had total impunity since 2014 and despite a couple of incidents between the SBU and Right Sector, they still have undeclared support by all levels of Ukrainian officialdom. The crowd, in a split second, went from rapturous . Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has framed his countrys war against Russia as a battle for democracy itself. There they continued to interrogate us and threatened to cut off our ears, Matjuschenkos wife, The torture of left-wing activist Alexander Matjuschenko on March 3 in Dnipro, recorded by Azov members and posted on Telegram by the city of Dnipro, Matjuschenko was jailed on the grounds that he was conducting an aggressive war or military operation, and now faces 10 to 15 years in prison. The 2002 Winter Olympics served as the stage for a controversy that had far-reaching consequences. Russian athletes are in Beijing competing as the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), after the country was banned because of a massive state-sponsored doping scheme at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Perhaps the most ghastly incident of repression took place when neo-Nazis backed by the Ukrainian government kidnapped Maxim Ryndovskiy, a professional MMA fighter, andbrutally tortured himfor the crime of training with Russian fighters at a gym in Chechnya. Ref: Managed to write on social media : They are breaking down my door armed with Ukrainian uniforms. On 9 January 1996, Berezhnaya was seriously injured when Shliakhov's blade sliced into her skull while the pair were practicing a side-by-side camel spin in Riga. Journalist Dan Cohenintervieweda Ukrainian businessman named Igor who was arrested by the SBU for his financial ties with Russian companies and detained this March in the security services notorious headquarters in downtown Kiev. Verified email at jefferson.edu. Here's what happened to Russian figure skaters Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze after the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Perhaps the most gruesome image to have appeared on social media in recent weeks is the photo of a tortured Russian soldier who had one of his eyes gouged before he was killed. And then, she arranged for Berezhnaya to be spirited out of Latvia. Worse still, is the participation of the likes of Azov, Right Sector and others in the detentions and also disappearances of people. As the conflict continues, the repression continues to build up against a wide-ranging category of people. His authoritarian decrees have triggered the disappearance, torture and even murder of an array of human rights activists, communist and leftist organizers, journalists and government officials accused of pro-Russian sympathies. Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze were also off-again, on-again romantically, splitting for good after the Utah Olympics. In January of 1996, her partner, Oleg Shilakhov, slashed a deep cut into her skull with his skate while they practiced. "Let's speak about her health. She began skating carefully with Anton's help. Both were, In the following days, the SBU arrested broadcast journalist Yan Taksyur and charged him with treason; human rights activist Elena Berezhnaya; Elena Viacheslavova, a human rights advocate whose father, Mikhail, was burned to death during the, Perhaps the most ghastly incident of repression took place when neo-Nazis backed by the Ukrainian government kidnapped Maxim Ryndovskiy, a professional MMA fighter, and, Ukraines SBU has even hunted opposition figures outside the countrys borders. Notes: "I think you do have to have a quad to win here," said Fairfax's Michael Weiss, who begins competing Wednesday in the men's short program after nearly landing the quadruple toe loop at the U.S. nationals. Your email address will not be published. She spoke at the UN, Bundestag, OSCE. His friends are now looking for a lawyer, Taksyurs son Ilya told the. Russian figure skater Elena Berezhnaya and her dance partner, Russian figure skater Anton Sikharulidze, competing for Latvia in the pair skating. Top-level officials and media outlets are wilfully ignoring what is taking place in Ukraine, by believing that the Russians are far worse, in scope and extent of human right abuses, while at the same time sanitising a wide range of heinous abuses, disappearances and killings in Ukraine. Yet, they have no time or inclination whatsoever to do likewise for those critical of Zelenskys government, state- repression that is innumerably and unrelentingly cruel, harsher, and significantly deadlier. Since Russian troops entered Ukraine on February 24, Ukraines SBU security service had been on a rampage against any and all iterations of internal political opposition. Two years ago, Berezhnaya lay near death with a brain injury. Soon evidence emerged of a quid pro quo between Russian and French votes in the pairs figure . postdoctoral fellow, Thomas Jefferson University. "I won't cry. Ref: He was severely beaten during his arrest by the SBU. Embedded into the already volatile mix of state repression, Ukrainian ultra-nationalists operate outside of any legal oversight, thus not accountable to state political structures. While claiming to defend democracy, Ukraines Volodymyr Zelensky has outlawed his opposition, ordered his rivals arrest, and presided over the disappearance and assassination of dissidents across the country. Nestor Shufrych. As. Later that year, ice dancer. they were real champions.