CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — The five Ukrainian athletes who took part in the Winter Olympics’ opening ceremony in Milan were led out by an Italian-based Russian volunteer who disagrees with her country’s invasion of their neighbour.
Wearing a long, hooded, silver puffer coat and large, dark glasses, Anastasia Kucherova’s act of solidarity went completely unnoticed by the wider world, including the Games’ organisers, until she revealed it on her private Instagram account last week.
That led to word getting out and, on Monday, she told the Associated Press how it happened and why she did it.
Kucherova, an architect who has lived in Milan for 14 years, explained that the team assignments for the placard-bearers were initially meant to be random, but the opening ceremony’s choreographer then asked the volunteers if they had any preferences. Kucherova asked if she could carry the “Ucraina” sign.
“When you walk by the side of these people you realize they have every human right to feel hatred toward any Russian,” she told AP.
“Still, I think it’s important to do even a small action to show them that maybe not all the people are thinking the same way.”
Anastasia Kucherova asked if she could carry the “Ucraina” sign at the opening ceremony. (Matthias Hangst / Getty Images)
She explained that while she is Russian, she does not support her country’s actions in Ukraine and wanted to make a small, personal gesture of support to the war-ravaged country. And, according to Kucherova, the Ukrainian athletes worked out where she was from and spoke to her in Russian, something she said proved the “profound connection” between the countries “that obviously could live on if not for the war”.
She also pointed out that the opening ceremony fell on the second anniversary of the poisoning of Russian opposition leader and political prisoner Alexei Navalny.
“Ukrainians don’t have any possibility to avoid these thoughts or to ignore the existence of war — so it is their reality,” she added.
“They keep loving each other, getting married or doing sports, coming to the Olympics. But all of this is happening (against) a devastating background.”
Neither the International Olympic Committee nor the local organising committee had any knowledge of Kucherova’s actions until this week.
“You have to consider that during the opening ceremony, there were more than 1,200 volunteers,” said Milan Cortina 2026 spokesman Luca Cassasa during Wednesday’s Winter Olympics daily briefing in Milan.
“They worked to make the opening ceremony something really unique and we cannot vet every volunteer. So, we discovered this after the individual spoke to the media.”