Manchester United announced today, Friday, that it withdrew from its sponsorship contract with the Russian airline “Aeroflot” after the start of a military operation in the Donbass.
“In light of the current events in Ukraine we have decided to withdraw from the sponsorship agreement with Aeroflot, we understand the concerns of our fans around the world and offer support and sympathy to those affected by the events,” a club spokesman said.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced that the West is covering up the Ukrainian regime and turning a blind eye to war crimes against the civilian population, noting that the practices of Kiev and Western countries are what led Ukraine to this tragedy.
During his talks with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Lugansk People’s Republic Vladislav Denigo and the First Deputy Foreign Minister of Donetsk, Lavrov said: “All these years, our Western colleagues have constantly covered up the Ukrainian regime, turned a blind eye to war crimes against the civilian population, and turned a blind eye to the killing of women, children and the elderly, destroying civilian infrastructure, and silently encouraging the rapid development of neo-Nazism and Russophobia, which ultimately plunged the country into tragedy.”
Lavrov also stressed that Russia had decided to conduct a special military operation so that Ukrainians “liberated from the yoke of Nazism” could freely decide their future, noting that Russia could not remain indifferent to the demands of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics for assistance against the aggressor.