Russian officials are outraged that Ukraine’s football jerseys display a silhouette of the country, including Crimea.
Ukraine’s football team has unveiled its 2020 UEFA European Football Championship uniform with the country silhouette and the traditional slogan “Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the Heroes.”
Andrii Pavelko, the president of the Ukrainian Association of Football, published photos of the jerseys on his Facebook page on June 6, writing “we believe that Ukraine’s silhouette will give strength to the players because they will fight for all of Ukraine.”
Evidently, that was unacceptable to the Kremlin, which has considered Crimea a part of Russia since illegally annexing it in 2014. It also claimed that the slogans have a Nazi background.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova criticized the Ukrainian football kit, writing on the Telegram messaging platform that “the Ukrainian football team, in its uniform, attached Ukraine’s territory to Russia’s Crimea”.
Zakharova adds that the Ukrainian slogan “Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the Heroes” echoes a Nazi rallying cry and is associated with a rallying cry of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and Stepan Bandera, a leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists.
The Kremlin often uses Bandera’s name in propaganda campaigns that try to paint the contemporary Ukrainian people and government as Nazis.
In fact, the slogan was widely used as a rallying cry during protests against pro-Kremlin President Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted by the EuroMaidan Revolution in 2014.
A football jersey displays the traditional Ukrainian slogan “Glory to Ukraine!”, widely used as a rallying cry during protests against pro-Kremlin President Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted by the EuroMaidan Revolution in 2014. (NIKITA KABANOV)
Dmitry Svishchev, a lawmaker in the Russian parliament, believes that the Ukrainian football uniform is “an expression of a political position,” which differs from Russia’s.
Svishchev urged the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) to ban the Ukrainian Euro 2020 football uniform.
However, UEFA approved Ukraine’s football kits.
“The shirt of the Ukrainian national team (and of all other teams) for UEFA Euro 2020 has been approved by UEFA, in accordance with the applicable equipment regulations,” the organization said in a statement to the BBC.
The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv also supported Ukraine’s football kit, writing on Twitter: “Love the new look. Glory to Ukraine! #CrimeaisUkraine.”
The Euro 2020 championship will take place in 11 cities in 10 states, including Russia’s St. Petersburg, from June 11 to July 11. The championship had been postponed due to COVID-19.
