​Aryna Sabalenko, who qualified for the third round of Roland Garros, became the heroine of a tense moment at the press conference she held after her victory over compatriot Iryna Shymanovich. A journalist from Ukraine asked an athlete from Belarus if she could publicly condemn the war, but she did not want to cooperate.

>> Aryna Sabalenko, statements about the war in Ukraine and accusations against Lukashenka

Aryna Sabalenko, connections with Lukashenka and a conclusion on the position of Belarus on the war

Hostilely received in the locker room and on social networks, Sabalenka stated several times that no one wants the war in Ukraine to continue, but each time she claimed that she is only an athlete and has no influence on the political situation.

Answering a question about relations with the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, Arina refused to comment, and the press representative made an unequivocal conclusion: the athlete supports the war.

We repeat the tense moment of the Roland Garros press conference:

Journalist from Ukraine: Aryna, I want to ask you two questions. In 2020, you signed a letter of support for Lukashenka when he was torturing and beating protesters in the streets. And then you showed up to celebrate the new year with him. How can a potential world leader support a dictator?

Aryna Sabalenko: I have no comment for you, so thank you for asking.

Journalist: You keep saying that no one supports the war, but can you speak for yourself and say: “I, Arina Sabalenko, strongly condemn the fact that Belarus is launching a missile attack on Ukraine, and I want it to stop”?

Sabalenka: I have no comments for you.

Journalist: So you’re basically pro-war if you can’t say so. You are not an ordinary person, Arina…

Press Secretary: I think she made it very clear that she didn’t want to answer those kinds of questions.

Sabalenka: First of all, yes.

Journalist: Now we know everything… clear!

Sabalenka: You have had enough answers from me and I have no more comments for you.

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Know:

• Aryna Sabalenko in the third round of Roland Garros will play Kamilla Rakhimova, an athlete from Russia, who is ranked 82nd in the world.

• Having reached the third round, Arina repeated her best result from Roland Garros (she was eliminated at this stage of the competition for the past three years).

The Roland Garros tournament takes place from May 28 to June 11, has a total prize pool of 49.6 million euros, and is the 127th tournament. Iga Sviatek and Rafael Nadal (14-time winner in Paris) became the champions of the title.

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