MOSCOW, November 13. /TASS/. Russia’s two-time Olympic silver medalists in pairs figure skating Yevgeniya Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov announced on Monday that they will no longer skate professionally.

"We are calling it a sports career, not putting it on hold. We may regret it or not, but we will no longer compete professionally and will skate anymore," Morozov said in an interview with Russia’s Channel One TV channel.

"A year ago I asked her [Yevgeniya Tarasova] to skate for some time more and she agreed. It didn’t take long to persuade her. I told her that we need to have more fun at competitions without any stress and no nervousness. She agreed," Morozov said.

"Yes, I did have a successful career," Tarasova replied in response to a question about her sports career adding that "there are grand plans in perspective from now on."

The Russian figure skating duo of Tarasova (28 years) and Morozov (31 years) won the silver medal in pairs skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea’s PyeongChang as well as in the pairs event at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in China’s Beijing.

The Russian duo participated in the 2022 Olympics in Beijing under a neutral status. On March 1, 2022, the International Skating Union announced a decision to provisionally suspend all athletes from Russia and Belarus. The suspension included figure skating, speed skating and short-track speed skating competitions.

At its session on January 25, 2023, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board put forward a proposal to permit individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in international sports tournaments, but only under certain conditions. Athletes from the countries in question should not be "actively supporting" Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and must compete under a neutral status.