A deafening silence.
Since the beginning of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, the former captain of the national blue and yellow team, Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, has not spoken about the conflict.
A silence that has not gone unnoticed by his compatriots.
The former midfielder, now an assistant at Zenith Saint-Petersburg, in Russia, has seen criticism rain down for his lack of reaction.
“As Shevchenko said, we are no less afraid of Moscow lice than of Ukrainian nits.
It's a Ukrainian slow.
As they say, with nits like this you don't need enemies, ”said Grigory Kozlovsky, the president of the Lviv Rukh club.
A few days ago, Ruslan Malinovskyi, current midfielder for Atalanta and the Ukrainian national team, also spoke negatively about the attitude of the former Bayern Munich player.
Oleksander Aliyev, former teammate of Tymoshchuk, was also very offensive against the assistant coach of Zenith whom he accuses of being a "traitor" and of having "stuck his tongue in his ass ".
“You are our Ukrainian patriot.
Or do you have flags on your cheeks just to show off?
“, accuses Aliyev.
Withdrawal of trainer's license
The Ukrainian Football Federation has linked actions to words.
The organization took the drastic step of stripping Tymoshchuk of his coaching license and erasing all of his past with the Ukrainian team, erasing his national team cap record in the process.
And finally, all the sports titles obtained in his country of birth are also taken away from him.
"Since the beginning of Russia's military aggression against Ukraine, Tymoschuk, the former captain of the Ukrainian national team, not only has not made public statements about it, but has not no longer ceased cooperation with the aggressor club (Zenith).
(...) By making this conscious choice (to be silent), Tymoschuk damages the image of Ukrainian football and violates clause 1.4.
Part 1 of Article 4 of the UAF Code of Ethics and Fair Play, ”explained the Ukrainian Federation to justify its medicine against Tymoshchuk.