MOSCOW, September 14 – Figure skater Margarita Drobyazko said that she would not try to keep her Lithuanian passport at the cost of betraying Russia.

Earlier, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda signed a decree excluding Drobiazko and her husband Povilas Vanagas, medalists of the World and European Ice Dance Championships and participants in five Olympics, from the list of holders of the Order of Gediminas, fifth degree, for their participation in Navka’s Swan Lake show in Sochi. Members of the Lithuanian Seimas appealed to the country’s Ministry of Internal Affairs with a request to evaluate the grounds for depriving Drobyazko of citizenship in accordance with amendments to the law, which allow depriving a person of citizenship acquired by exception if his actions pose a threat to the national security of Lithuania. The Lithuanian Ministry of Internal Affairs recommended that the country’s president deprive figure skater Drobyazko of citizenship.

Drobiazko and Vanagas represented Lithuania at the Olympic Games and World Championships, where they managed to win one bronze medal. The couple are multiple national champions. Drobyazko is a native of Moscow. She received Lithuanian citizenship in 1993.