On Tuesday, Lithuanian MPs initiated the process of stripping ice dancer Margarita Drobiazko of her Lithuanian citizenship as she continues to perform in Russia. She is not familiar with the situation, Drobiazko told Russian TV.
“Will I be stripped of my Lithuanian citizenship? I cannot say anything because I don’t know the situation,” Drobiazko told Russia’s Match TV.
“Am I worried about that? All I know is that there is nothing I can do. It’s their business. Basically, I’m living a good life and I don’t have anything else to say,” she added.
Russian-born Drobiazko was granted Lithuanian citizenship in 1993 so she could represent the country in international sporting events alongside her Lithuanian partner and husband Povilas Vanagas.
The pair represented Lithuania at five Olympic Games and ten international championships. In 2000, Drobiazko and Vanagas received a state award, the Order of the Grand Duke Gediminas of Lithuania, 5th degree. The award was taken away from them last August.
Drobiazko and Vanagas received widespread condemnation in Lithuania for performing in Sochi last summer, in a show hosted by Tatyana Navka, the wife of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Lithuanian MPs have asked the Interior Ministry to look into revoking Drobiazko’s citizenship under new legislative amendments passed in March.
The legislation allows taking away Lithuanian citizenship from naturalised dual citizens who received Lithuanian citizenship by way of exception if they “endanger through their actions the security interests of Lithuania or its allies and thus brings the country into disrepute”.
Further reading
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
