ST. PETERSBURG, February 14. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has condemned Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky's recent calls for harassment of Russian athletes, suggesting that his rhetoric exposes a neo-Nazi inclination. Zakharova recalled Zelensky's expressed horror at the presence of numerous Russian athletes at the Winter Olympics in Italy, along with his demands for similar actions from other nations.
"If that's not neo-Nazism, then what is?" she asked. Zakharova emphasized that such calls to target athletes based on their nationality and to incite hostility reflect the very essence of neo-Nazism. "This is precisely what neo-Nazism looks like - calls for discrimination and harassment based on ethnicity or nationality," she remarked.
Zakharova noted that Zelensky is calling for the persecution of those who "came solely to showcase their talents and abilities, as well as the work they've put into developing them."
"If they're not simply perceived on the basis of their nationality, because their national character and national cultural values can be noted, but are instead persecuted - it’s the limit," she emphasized.
"Various peoples in Europe were similarly persecuted in the 1930s, including Jews. Slavs were also persecuted, and then physically exterminated. Roma were also persecuted, along with other peoples who were declared unworthy of either existence or participation in certain events," Zakharova recalled. "You understand, this is monstrous.".