Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda has signed a decree stripping well-known figure skaters Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas over their participation in an event in Russia that was organized by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov's wife, Tatyana Navka.
Nauseda wrote on Facebook after he signed the decree on August 10 that the figure skaters' achievements on Lithuania's behalf had been annulled by their "cynical" participation in the ice-dancing event in Sochi.
Nauseda also wrote that the Lithuanian government's decision to grant Moscow native Drobiazko Lithuanian citizenship in 1993 "looks like a miserable farce under the current circumstances," as Russia continues its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
The day before, Lithuanian lawmakers proposed stripping Drobiazko of her Lithuanian citizenship.
Navka, an Olympic gold medalist and multiple world and European champion in ice dancing, called the Lithuanian parliament's plan to strip Drobiazko of her citizenship and state awards 'disgusting."
After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Drobiazko began representing Lithuania in international figure-skating tournaments along with Vanagas. In 1993, she obtained Lithuanian citizenship, and seven years later the couple married. They have been living in Moscow for many years.
The couple earned bronze medals in the 2000 World Championship and in the European Championships in 2000 and 2006.
Last month, Ukraine's Olympic Committee fired Olympic champion Viktor Petrenko as vice president of the Figure Skating Federation and expelled him from the organization for taking part in Navka's event.