Upon the revelation that four out of the five Moldovan athletes representing Moldova at the Milan Olympic Games are Russians, a new scandal has erupted. The press discovered that Elizaveta Hlusovici, who carried the country’s flag, followed pro-war Russian groups on social media.
The biathlete was reportedly subscribed to publications such as “333 — Russian Army — SVO reports”, “We are for Putin | Patriots of Russia” and “SVO reports | Army | Russia”.
A few hours after social media users exposed her, Hlusovici renamed her vKontakte account to “Natalia L” and left the aforementioned groups, according to gsp.ro. On February 9, the profile was deleted.
Elizaveta Hlusovici is the daughter of Russian athlete Natalia Levchenko. According to newsmaker.md, the latter obtained Moldovan citizenship in 2003, and her daughter subsequently obtained citizenship at birth, in 2007.
The other three Russians representing Moldova at the Winter Olympic Games, held in Milan, Pavel Magazeev, Maxim Makarov, and Alina Stremous, obtained citizenship in 2020, based on decrees signed by former President Igor Dodon.