"I want to apologize for what happened. On the podium I made a gesture that many interpreted as a Nazi salute. That's not true, I believe that Nazism was one of the worst crimes against humanity."
With these words - he publishes on his Instagram profile "mea culpa" Artem Severyukhin, the 15-year-old Russian driver, ended up in the storm for having made the Roman salute on the podium of the European kart Championships , in which he participated - winning - with Italian license (due to the sanctions that also hit Russian sportsmen after the invasion of the Moscow troops in Ukraine.
His gesture, which took place during the performance of Mameli's hymn, had triggered very harsh reactions, with his team (the Swedish Ward) who had distanced themselves by threatening to be fired and with the ACI who feared the possible withdrawal of the license.
Now Artem tried to explain: "The guys in front of the podium showed me that in some cases in Italy it is customary to hit each other's chest to show gratitude. I just wanted to make that gesture. I know I was wrong - he added - and I'm ready to pay the consequences, but I didn't want to offend anyone. Sorry. "
(Unioneonline / lf)
