Robert Prange
Russia’s primary ranked singles tennis participant has referred to as for Putin to finish his brutal warfare in Ukraine and criticized her nation’s perspective towards homosexuality after popping out as homosexual.
Daria Kasatkina, who's at present ranked world quantity 12 and reached the semi-final of the French Open in June, spoke out in regards to the Kremlin’s repressive insurance policies in an interview with Russian blogger Vitya Kravchenko on YouTube. Kasatkina, 25, additionally revealed that she has a girlfriend within the interview and stated she feared returning dwelling. “Residing within the closet is inconceivable,” Kasatkina stated. “Residing in peace with your self is the one factor that issues.”
Whereas homosexuality is just not outright banned in Russia, it's unlawful to share “homosexual propaganda” to kids. Homophobic attitudes are widespread, nonetheless, with horrific studies of human rights violations towards homosexual folks notably related to Chechnya, the small Muslim republic in southern Russia.
In a 2018 report, the Group for Safety and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) concluded that “harassment and persecution, arbitrary or illegal arrests or detentions, torture, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions,” had taken place.
“So many topics are taboo in Russia,” Kasatkina stated in her interview. “A few of them extra necessary than ours, it’s no shock. This notion of somebody desirous to be homosexual or turning into [gay] is ridiculous. I feel there may be nothing simpler on this world than being straight. If there's a alternative, no person would select being homosexual, why make your life more durable, particularly in Russia? What’s the purpose?”
Kasatkina additionally added that it could “by no means be OK” for her to carry arms along with her girlfriend.
When requested about what she most needed out of life, the four-time singles title winner stated, “For the warfare to finish,” including that the battle had turn out to be a “full-blown nightmare.”
Russians who've criticized the warfare have confronted fines and even years-long jail sentences on costs together with “discrediting the military,” which might reportedly embrace merely referring to the invasion as a “warfare” as a substitute of a “particular army operation.”
Kasatkina’s feedback come after each Russian and Belarusian gamers had been banned from competing at this yr’s Wimbledon in response to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. “Within the circumstances of such unjustified and unprecedented army aggression, it could be unacceptable for the Russian regime to derive any advantages from the involvement of Russian or Belarusian gamers with The Championships,” the All England Membership stated in an announcement in April.
Gamers from each international locations will probably be allowed to compete below a impartial flag on the U.S. Open in August. U.S. Tennis Affiliation CEO and government director Lew Sherr instructed the Related Press that the choice to permit Russian and Belarusian gamers to participate at Flushing Meadows was made as a result of a “concern about holding the person athletes accountable for the actions and selections of their governments.”