The chair of the Romanian Rowing Federation, Elisabeta Lipa, stated, on Wednesday, that she is born in Siret, a village of Ukrainians in the north of Suceava County, and that she shudders at what is happening at the border in the context of the armed conflict started by Russia in Ukraine.
"I am thinking of the poor people, what they're going through... I want one thing, that in the 21st century we have no wars, that we prove love and solidarity because no-one is an emperor of the land and people. Because you take nothing with you when you go. My village is a village of Ukrainians; I was speaking just yesterday with the priest in the village and he told me that relatives, acquaintances came... he's accommodating them in the houses, in the church. It's something I have never imagined that we will live in our time. I can't say that I have relatives in Ukraine [e.n. - Elisabeta Lipa is of Ukrainian ancestry], because the relatives were lost in time. But the fact that many villagers go and shop in Ukraine, that says it all," said Lipa, Agerpres.ro informs.
Elisabeta Lipa believes that the decision to forbid Russian athletes from participating in international competitions is not normal, because "athletes have no fault, sport stops wars... the athletes are faultless, they're educated, disciplined, they fight in the spirit of fair play, which is something I would like to see done by those who started this catastrophe - it's hard for me to even say the word war," she added.