Journalist Ivan Tsvetkovich criticized the decision of Dynamo Kiev to refuse to shake hands with the players of the Serbian Partizan before the matches of the teams in the Champions League selection due to the recent visit of the Belgrade club to Russia on The fraternal cup.
"I would be interested in what Macron, the Pope and other personalities who demand an Olympic truce would say. I think sport should unite so that there are no disputes between nations and athletes.
On the basis of what the people of Kiev did this, I can't imagine. In this case, the Russians can also demand that someone not play against the Ukrainians. But of course, I know that the Russians won't do that.
In general, if it interferes with them, then something else may interfere with others. And then what should I do? If the protocol says that handshakes should be done and pennants should be exchanged, then what's the problem? I think Ukrainians are trying to escalate wherever it is possible and impossible for someone to do what they want," Tsvetkovich said in an interview with SE.
The first to muddy the waters were Ukrainian journalists, who did not like that the Serbian team came to Moscow for friendly matches with Dynamo, CSKA and Lokomotiv. There were even statements that it was necessary to "smear them on the lawn and bury them underground."
But if only the local audience heard these opinions, then before the game itself, such conversations reached the official level. However, with much softer rhetoric.
At the pre-match press conference, the head coach of Kiev, Alexander Shovkovsky, reading from a piece of paper, also protested the Serbian team's trip to Moscow, the Sport24 portal reports.
And he said: because of this, his team will not observe all the traditional pre-match rituals such as shaking hands with football players and exchanging pennants.
The Serbian side has not yet reacted to this demarche in any way. There were no comments from UEFA either. But there have already been cases when the rules were changed in fencing so that Ukrainians themselves could choose who needs to shake hands.
And on At the Olympic Games to be held in Paris, representatives of the Ukrainian national team were allowed not to greet Russians.
The first match between Dynamo Kyiv and Partizan Belgrade will be held today, July 23, at 21:00 (Moscow time) in Lubin, Poland. The return game will take place in a week..