"Return to Motherland": Ukrainian champion served in the National Guard, but fled to the Russian Federation (photo)

She stated this in an interview with the Russian propaganda channel Russia Today. According to her, she wanted to accumulate money on "escape from Ukraine", so she tried for a long time "not to raise suspicion of the military unit. " "It was played by the fact that since the spring of 2024, women servicemen were granted leave with the right to travel abroad, in particular at tourist vouchers.

Therefore, I purchased a voucher to the Czech Republic and indicated in the report on vacation that I will hold it there," Zhalinskaya. The athlete added that she was "insisted" due to the registration of the second foreign passport and did not inform the military unit. This allowed her to cross the state border of Ukraine.

"With the help of friends from the Russian Federation, I found carriers that were taken from Lviv to Poland, then through a special chat I found carriers through the Polish-Belarusian border, and with the help of friends from Russia, a ticket was purchased on the Minsk-Moscow plane," Veslyka said. She called the motivation of her act to Russian propagandists that she is a "Russian by nationality", and its hometown is the city of Primorsk, Zaporizhzhya region.

Now the city has been occupied by the Russian Federation since the spring of 2022. According to open sources, Larisa Jalinskaya is a master of sports of Ukraine of an international class in academic rowing. It is a multiple medalist of the Ukrainian Championships, and at the World Championships 2021 from academic rowing on ergonometers in closed premises won bronze.

At the time of the material, law enforcement officials did not report the opening of criminal proceedings against the NSU military personnel on the circumstances of its escape. Earlier, Focus reported that Shakhtar's football player Rosputko fled to Russia. The media add that the athlete is originally from the occupied Gorlovka, and his parents live in the occupied territories and support Russia.