russian athletes — agents of kremlin propaganda
The Center for Countering Disinformation of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, in cooperation with the Defence Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the Ministry of Youth and Sports, continues to expose public figures in the field of sports who promote propaganda in the interests of the kremlin.
▫️ The “Champions of Terror” section of the War & Sanctions portal has been updated with information on ten additional russian nationals—participants in the war against Ukraine who have entered Paralympic sports.
▪️ The kremlin uses so-called participants of the “special military operation” who have sustained disabilities as one of its propaganda tools. For this purpose, a joint project of the russian paralympic committee and the public movement “zdorovoye otechestvo,” titled “heroes of our time,” has been established to facilitate the rehabilitation of war participants and their involvement in publicly justifying aggression against Ukraine.
Among the newly added individuals:
▫️ vladyslav leonidovych shynkar — member of the russian paralympic wheelchair fencing team; previously served as deputy commander of the “vostok” battalion;
▫️ anton pavlovych bushmakin — member of the russian national paracanoe team; a sapper and former marine, participant in combat operations near Avdiivka in Donetsk region;
▫️ tsiden bairovych geninov — member of the russian armed forces team; nominee for “best athlete of 2025” by the International Military Sports Council (CISM). He served in the 5th separate guards tank tatsinskaya brigade, which took part in the offensive against Kyiv region.
The “Champions of Terror” section of the War & Sanctions portal currently contains information on 223 individuals.
Work on updating the list is ongoing. We call for stronger sanctions against russian athlete-propagandists and for preventing any form of cooperation with them.
