2023-04-26 00:05:23
While Wimbledon opened the doors to Russian and Belarusian players, a Polish plane closed its doors to Vitalia Diatchenko. The Polish national airline (LOT) said on Tuesday that it had refused access on board one of its aircraft to the Russian tennis player. To justify its decision, LOT invoked the restrictions established by Warsaw regarding the movement of Russian nationals.
Diatchenko, 32, had assured on social networks that he had been refused boarding on a LOT flight from Cairo to Nice via Warsaw, because of his nationality. She had missed a tournament in France, while the plane had flown away without her. “LOT Polish Airlines could not accept a citizen of the Russian Federation on its flight,” the airline confirmed in a statement.
The restrictions on the movement of Russian citizens invoked include “airport crossings, with regard to citizens of the Russian Federation traveling from outside the Schengen area”. Warsaw, a key supporter of kyiv, implemented travel restrictions last September as part of sanctions against Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
Currently 250th in the WTA rankings, Diatchenko told Polish media that she had been “stuck for 18 hours at Cairo airport”, which is why she had to withdraw from a tournament in Corsica.
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