Vitalia Diatchenko took to social media to describe the incident, Poland’s wprost.pl website reported on Tuesday.
The Russian tennis player, who is currently ranked number 250 in the world, wrote on Instagram: “Today, I was refused to fly to a tournament in Corsica by LOT airlines, from Cairo - Warsaw - Nice, because I am the owner of a Russian passport.”
She added: “Airlines rules - suddenly don’t allow any Russian to fly with LOT airlines!”
Diatchenko added she had produced “support letters“ from the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), the International Tennis Federation (ITF), and her Ukrainian-born father, who works for the United Nations, but all to no avail.
She said all these documents had been rejected because of her “country of birth.”
The Russian tennis player said that as a result, she had been “stuck for 18 hours in Cairo airport, sleeping on benches, no food available and not allowed to leave the airport.”
Diatchenko stated: “I slept in airport, I was treated like 3rd class citizen, I spent couple of thousand euros.”
She said she had been attempting to travel to a tournament in Corsica, France, via Warsaw and Nice, when LOT refused to allow her onboard a flight from Cairo, Egypt, wprost.pl reported.
The Russian tennis player said she then tried to buy a ticket with the German airline Lufthansa, but was told she could only enter the Schengen zone via Spain as it had issued her visa, according to the Reuters news agency.
LOT cites restrictions on Russians travelling from outside Schengen zone
Meanwhile, Poland’s LOT airline issued a statement on the incident, confirming it had not allowed Diatchenko to board, wprost.pl reported.
LOT cited restrictions introduced by Poland's interior ministry during the COVID-19 pandemic and updated last year following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to Reuters.
The Polish carrier said: "The provisions of the regulation introduce restrictions at certain border crossings, including airport crossings, in relation to citizens of the Russian Federation travelling from outside the Schengen area."
The European Union has banned all flights from Russia and has agreed to limit issuing free-travel Schengen zone visas, Reuters reported.
In September 2022, Poland and the Baltic states closed their borders to Russian tourists, with Finland following suit later that month, according to news outlets.
Russian, Belarusian players allowed to compete in tennis events as neutrals
Unlike many other sports, tennis did not introduce an all-out ban on players from Russia and its ally Belarus after the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, Reuters noted.
With the exception of last year's Wimbledon, when players from the two countries were banned from competing, Russian and Belarusian players have been taking part in tennis tournaments as neutral athletes, according to reports.
Tuesday is day 426 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: wprost.pl, dziennik.pl, Reuters