The family of a disabled teenager from Krasnodar has dropped their appeal against his exclusion from the national team for a "Nazi gesture."

The family of a disabled teenager from Krasnodar received notice that he has been excluded from the national sledge hockey team, despite an expert opinion that ruled out any similarity between the athlete's gesture during the match and a Nazi salute. The family has decided not to appeal the decision.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot," the family of a 15-year-old disabled athlete from Krasnodar has filed a complaint against the decision to disqualify the teenager until the end of the third round of the Russian sledge hockey championship for a gesture "resembling a Nazi salute." The relatives claim the teenager was simply waving to someone in the stands and have commissioned an independent expert analysis of the match video. The teenager has become the target of online harassment. Experts found no signs of a Nazi salute in the young man's gesture.

On January 29, 2026, the family of a 15-year-old disabled sledge hockey player from Krasnodar received a copy of an official letter from the All-Russian Sports Federation for Persons with Musculoskeletal Disabilities, which stated that the teenager had been excluded from the list of candidates for the Russian national team and suspended from participation in key competitions back in November 2025.

The document, signed by federation president Andrei Strokin, was prepared following a meeting of the federation council held on November 26, 2025. The letter is addressed to the Chairman of the St. Petersburg Committee for Physical Culture and Sports and concerns disciplinary measures against the athlete following an incident at a Russian Ice Sledge Hockey Championship match.

According to the letter, the teenager has been excluded from the list of candidates for the Russian Ice Sledge Hockey National Team until the end of the 2025-2026 season and is also ineligible for inclusion in the national team for the 2026-2027 season. In addition, the teenager was disqualified from participating in the final round of the Russian Championship and the Russian Championship for the 2025-2026 season.

“Therefore, we are talking not only about a temporary disqualification at one stage of the tournament, but about measures that effectively deprive the minor athlete of the opportunity to compete as part of the national team and participate in the main official competitions of the country for at least a season and a half,” said Oleg Belov, a lawyer unconnected with the case, regarding the legal consequences of this decision for the disabled athlete.

According to relatives, the examination was sent to the disqualification committee, but it could not influence the decisions already made.

"We only just learned that the child was excluded from the national team back in November. At that time, no examination had been conducted, no one had tried to sort things out, and no experts were brought in. "It was a shock for us," one of the teenager's relatives told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

 The family emphasizes that in the child's best interests, they decided to abandon further complaints.

"We don't see any real prospects for challenging anything. We were made clear that people called members of the SVO are involved in the conflict. We fear for the child's psychological well-being. Every new document, every trial is a severe trauma for him," the source explained.

The letter received has serious legal consequences for the teenager: "Being excluded from the list of candidates for the national team is not a formality. This means that the athlete cannot be included in the national team or participate in official top-level competitions. Moreover, the decision was made without taking into account the expert opinion and before it was available, which calls into question the validity of such measures," Oleg Belov explained.

According to him, the family's refusal to further appeal does not constitute an admission of guilt. "In this case, it is an attempt to protect a disabled minor and a family member from further pressure. The very existence of such a decision has already impacted his athletic career, regardless of whether his guilt has been proven," Belov emphasized.

Previously, the "Caucasian Knot" reported that after the incident at the match, the teenager became the target of online bullying, and his relatives insisted and continue to insist that there was no extremist undertone to his actions.