as long as vladimir putin is pursuing this current course, it will be impossible for you to continue with your sporting career? i don t think it s right to speculate, because anything i say right now, it is a speculation. 0ne and a half months ago, i couldn t imagine that the world would change so much. so, you know, it can change another step. and i genuinely don t know where it could go. we have to end there, but nikita mazepin, i thank you very much indeed forjoining me on hardtalk, thanks. thank you for your time.
who, i believe, even after the ukraine invasion, was invited to a small meeting of business leaders to discuss with mr putin how sanctions would impact russia and how they could best be combated. so now that you are under these sanctions, your sporting career, i guess, is effectively over. i don t agree with being in the sanctions, and, you know, i ve said previously that i intend to fight it. perhaps now is not the right time, because if you look at the whole situation that s happening against, you know, athletes and in the general case, you know, it s cancel culture against my country. so, you know, that s about the sanctions. then in regards to the meeting that my dad has attended. my dad s responsible for a very big company called uralkali, which supplies the fertiliser
i into russia. he was very excited, it seems, about getting the grand prix to st petersburg in 2023, which, of course, now is not going to happen. stephen, let mejustjump into that, what you just said, because, you know, we had one race in russia and the government was obviously interested. but if you look what s happening in usa, you know, they re going to have 2 3 races a year now. you know, it s obvious that the governments are interested in the sport because the platform of formula i is great. look at what happened in saudi arabia last week, where the war was actually happening in the country or, in fact, 10km away from the racetrack. and, you know, nothing actually took place and the race has gone on, so it s not very objective, and. i take that point, i do take that point, i hear what you say. butjust as a final question to you, do you now feel that as long as vladimir putin is pursuing this current course, it will be impossible for you to continue with your sporting career?
with mr putin how sanctions would impact russia and how they could best be combated. so now that you are under these sanctions, your sporting career, i guess, is effectively over. i don t agree with being in the sanctions, and, you know, i ve said previously that i intend to fight it. perhaps now is not the right time, because if you look at the whole situation that s happening against, you know, athletes and in the general case, you know, it s cancel culture against my country. so, you know, that s about the sanctions. and then in regards to the meeting that my dad has attended. my dad s responsible for a very big company called uralkali, which supplies the fertiliser to the world. and as i say, not only to russia, but it s responsible
but if you look what s happening in usa, you know, they re going to have 2 3 races a year now. you know, it s obvious that the governments are interested in the sport because the platform of formula i is great. look at what happened in saudi arabia last week, where the war was actually happening in the country or, in fact, 10km away from the racetrack. and, you know, nothing actually took place and the race has gone on, so it s not very objective, and. i take that point, i do take that point, i hear what you say. butjust as a final question to you, do you now feel that as long as vladimir putin is pursuing this current course, it will be impossible for you to continue with your sporting career? i don t think it s right to speculate, because anything i say right now, it is a speculation. 0ne and a half months ago,