Moscow-born figure skater Margarita Drobiazko has lost her Lithuanian citizenship over her participation in an event in Russia in August 2022.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda signed a decree annulling Drobiazko's citizenship on September 15 after lawmakers initiated a process to take away Drobiazko's citizenship in June.
Earlier in March, the Lithuanian parliament adopted a law that allows the revocation of the citizenship of individuals who had been granted Lithuanian passports for outstanding contributions to the country's culture and sports but whose actions posed a threat to the Baltic state's national security.
In August last year, Nauseda signed a decree depriving Drobiazko and her husband, Povilas Vanagas, who is also a well-known figure skater born in Lithuania, of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas over their participation in the event in question, which was organized by Tatyana Navka, the wife of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Nauseda at the time called the couple's participation in the event in the Russian city of Sochi "cynical" and said the Lithuanian government’s decision to grant Drobiazko Lithuanian citizenship in 1993 "looks like a miserable farce" under the circumstances of Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Drobiazko started representing Lithuania in international figure-skating events along with Vanagas. In 1993, she obtained Lithuanian citizenship; seven years later, the pair married. They have been residing in Moscow for many years.
The couple earned bronze medals at the 2000 World Championship and at the European Championships in 2000 and 2006.
Last year, Ukraine’s Olympic Committee sacked Olympic champion Viktor Petrenko from the post of vice president of the Ukrainian Figure Skating Federation (UFFK) and expelled him from the organization for taking part in the Navka's event.