Olga Smirnova, a prima ballerina from Russia, is speaking out against the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
A lead dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet, Smirnova said she is “ashamed of Russia” and publicly denounced its president, Vladimir Putin, for giving the order to invade the neighboring country.
“I cannot but say that with all the fibers of my soul I am against the war,” Smirnova wrote on a newly-created Telegram account, according to the New York Post.
She would also write that her grandfather was Ukrainian and “I am a quarter Ukrainian.”
“I never thought that I would be ashamed of Russia. I have always been proud of the talented Russian people, our cultural and sporting achievements,” the 30-year-old continued. “But now the line is drawn on the before and after.”
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Smirnova lamented how much “it hurts that people are dying, while others are deprived of a roof over their heads or forced to leave their homes,” and wrote that “Political issues in a modern civilized society should be resolved exclusively through peaceful negotiations.”
President Biden on Tuesday announced a ban on all imports of Russian oil, gas and energy to the United States, targeting “the main artery” of Russia’s economy amid Putin’s war on Ukraine.
