but it s the mistakes ofa young man, and i ve been working hard to get through those things and get better. and therefore, you know, i started to do certain things to make the world a better place that i perhaps would have not done if i haven t lived through it. and it s just part of life, i believe. the fact is, you now are sanctioned. you re under eu sanctions, uk sanctions. so is yourfather, who, as i said, is known to be and the eu sanctions explicitly states this a close business associate of vladimir putin, 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.
and the eu sanctions explicitly states this a close business associate of vladimir putin, 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. and then in regards to the meeting that my dad has attended. my dad s responsible for a very
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, 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.
sport right away, so, yeah. so, michael, sport right away, so, yeah. so, michael, when sport right away, so, yeah. so, michael, when you sport right away, so, yeah. so, michael, when you started in the philippines and you had this ambition of becoming an ice skaterfrom a this ambition of becoming an ice skater from a young age, presumably, what was the reaction, notjust from your reaction, not just from your family reaction, notjust from your family and people in the sporting industry? honestly, in the philippines, sporting industry? honestly, in the philippines, people - sporting industry? honestly, in the philippines, people were i the philippines, people were not as supportive. when i was starting they were saying, it might be impossible for you not to get to the olympics and stuff, but eventually, when i was starting to train more and more and more and compete more, and they were seeing the progress and their views on me were changing and very positive and they were like, o
throughout the sporting career, your 0lympic career. congratulations on that. to stalk us through how difficult it was to reach those heights given the fact that you come from a place that doesn t have much experience in this sport. it is difficult for me to honestly just to train and it is difficult for me to honestlyjust to train and to a the hardest stuff in figure skating because first of all, the sport is not as popular in the sport is not as popular in the philippines before and second of all, at the travel outside of the country to train and it gets pretty expensive to really train and to get the coachesin really train and to get the coaches in the living expenses and everything. so that s pretty difficult. and everything. so that s pretty difficult. yes indeed. i am so sorry. pretty difficult. yes indeed. i am so sorry, we pretty difficult. yes indeed. i am so sorry, we have - pretty difficult. yes indeed. i am so sorry, we have to - pretty difficult. yes indeed. i l am so