Olympic champion Viktor Petrenko has been fired from his post as vice president of the Ukrainian Figure Skating Federation (UFFK) and expelled from the organization for taking part in an event in Russia that was organized by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov's wife, Tatyana Navka.
Federation members were "outraged" by Petrenko's decision to participate in Navka's ice show, The Scarlet Flower, which started in the Russian city of Sochi on July 1 and is scheduled to end on September 30, the UFFK said in a statement.
"The former athlete made this shameful decision of his despite the wide-scale war that Russia is conducting against Ukraine for the fifth month," the statement said.
"Thousands of Ukrainian civilians, including hundreds of children, killed and tortured by the aggressor, massive missile strikes on our cities and villages, and the total destruction of people’s homes did not stop Viktor Petrenko from going onto the skating rink...to perform on a team with supporters of this horrible war."
Ukraine's National Olympic Committee also condemned Petrenko's participation in the show, calling it "unacceptable."
Odesa native Petrenko, 53, won gold medals in the singles figure-skating competitions at the 1992 Winter Olympics and the World Championships the same year and is a three-time European champion.
Navka won gold medals in ice dancing at the 2006 Winter Olympics and the World Championships in 2004 and 2005 and is also a three-time European champion in that sport.
Her husband, Peskov, has been Russian President Vladimir Putin's chief spokesman since 2008, when Putin started a term as prime minister.
