Ukrainian organisation in Poland criticises Russian-born Polish Olympic medallist

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

A prominent Ukrainian organisation in Poland has criticised Vladimir Semirunniy, a Russian-born speed skater who last week won an Olympic silver medal for Poland just months after being granted Polish citizenship.

“This is a Russian who just a moment ago was representing a country waging a brutal war,” wrote Euromaidan Warszawa, which also noted that Semirunniy had visited Russian-occupied Crimea.

Meanwhile, Russia’s sports minister has denounced Russian athletes such as Semirunniy who have fled their homeland and now represent other countries instead. He threatened to strip them of titles they won in Russia and deny them the right to return to their country of birth.

Last Friday, Semirunniy won Poland’s second medal of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, with silver in the men’s 10,000 metres event. Originally from Yekaterinburg, he represented Russia at the Junior World Championships before fleeing to Poland in 2023.

He first competed for his adopted country in January last year after denouncing Russia’s war in Ukraine and serving a suspension from international sport. Then, in August, he was granted Polish citizenship, which opened up the way for him to compete in the Olympics.

In a social media post, Euromaidan Warszawa said that it was important “to tell the whole truth” about Semirunniy’s past, including that he “illegally crossed into…occupied Crimea” in 2019, five years after it was annexed by Russia and when Semirunniy was 16 years old.

They noted that he also continued competing in Russian colours after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. As recently as 2023, just before defecting to Poland, the speed skater held the status in his home country of Master of Sports of Russia.

Sharing Euromaidan Warszawa’s post, the organisation’s co-founder and chair, Natalia Panchenko, who is a prominent figure in Poland’s large Ukrainian community, added her own comments.

“In 2019, you go to occupied Crimea. In 2023, you proudly represent criminal Russia. And then suddenly – bang – in 2025 you get Polish citizenship at express pace so that in 2026 you can go to the games as a ‘fully fledged Pole’,” she wrote.

“You get a medal and suddenly everyone only sees the decoration. As if the earlier decisions had magically evaporated.”

Euromaidan Warszawa also contrasted Semirunniy’s fortunes with those of Ukrainian athletes killed as a result of the Russian aggression, as well as Vladyslav Heraskevych, the Ukrainian skeleton slider disqualified from the ongoing Olympics for wearing a helmet depicting his fellow sportspeople killed in the war.

“Of course, it’s worth celebrating a medal for Poland,” the organisation concluded. “But it’s not worth pretending that history doesn’t exist. This is a Russian who just a moment ago was representing a country waging a brutal war.”

“Sport does not exist in a vacuum. You can change a flag on your suit quicker than your life story, but you can’t erase your life story.”

Meanwhile, the Russian sports minister, Mikhail Degtyarev, has warned of the consequences that could face athletes such as Semirunniy, describing their actions as “pure treason”.

Any Russian sportsperson renouncing their citizenship to be able to participate in international competitions should be prohibited from entering the country and have all their titles taken away, said Degtyarev, quoted by Polsat News.

“We feed them, educate them, provide them with coaches and training bases, and they throw away their passport and leave. We should take everything away, [the right] to enter the country and use our facilities. And we will.”

Speaking to Eurosport after his medal success last week, Semirunniy admitted that it was difficult for him to talk about Russia. “My entire family lives in Russia. I’m scared that they might have problems. I know that I’m also very popular in Russia after winning this medal.”

Many sports’ governing bodies continue to prohibit athletes representing the Russian Federation from international competition, although 20 are competing as Individual Neutral Athletes at the Winter Olympics.

Poland was removed as the host of two European junior weightlifting championships this year due to its refusal to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part.

It also recently refused to allow two Russian ski jumpers to enter the country to take part in a World Cup event in Zakopane, although they had been cleared to compete by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Poland has so fqar won a total of three medals at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, with 19-year-old Kacper Tomasiak adding bronze in the individual large hill ski-jumping event to his silver on the normal hill. The Games continue until next Sunday.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Szymon Sikora i Robert Hajduk/PKOl

Ben Koschalka

Ben Koschalka is a translator, lecturer, and senior editor at Notes from Poland. Originally from Britain, he has lived in Kraków since 2005.