– I think he conquered 99 percent of women in Russia. When she speaks, many women listen. Very few women listen to other politicians, Välbe told Russia’s state news agency RIA with a smile on her face.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the Russian president largely refrained from commenting on the policy. She now comes out with unreserved support for Vladimir Putin and she seems full of admiration for him.
– All the years that Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was elected president, I voted for him. I was his adviser. Therefore, I will never contradict, argue or think about his decisions, because I trust him completely. And I think that’s absolutely right, says Välbe in the interview.
The powerful transnational president has previously been involved in politics through Putin’s United Russia party. As recently as 2021, she ran for a seat in the Russian parliament but ended up withdrawing her candidacy.
– That 99 percent of women support Putin, I don’t believe in anything. If you read state-controlled media in Russia, you can get this impression. This is completely wrong. There are some who understand this and still support it.
That’s what Ivar Dale, an expert adviser to the Norwegian Helsinki Committee at NRK, says. He believes Välbe’s statements demonstrate his interest in the regime continuing.
– The war is going badly for Putin and they may need new positive voices, Dale continues.
– Select a comparison line
After the invasion of Ukraine, Välbe kept a low profile. This has now been broken and NRK sports commentator Jan Petter Saltvedt believes she should now be fired from all sport related positions.
– It is completely reprehensible for a cross-country president to make such statements. None of the content surprises me, but he has kept a low profile since the invasion of Ukraine so as not to provoke the international ski community, says Saltvedt and continues:
– Now it chooses a confrontational line that shows its domestic position is weakened or it is confident that Russia will be pulled back faster than many thought.
CRITICAL: NRK sports commentator Jan Petter Saltvedt believes Välbe should now be fired from all positions in international sports in the future.
Photo: Martin Leigland / NRK
Now he wonders about the times of the Russian president’s crisscrossing the country.
– He has deliberately withheld public support for Putin since the invasion. Now obviously she has more to gain or feels she has to show it externally, says Saltvedt.
– Should this statement disqualify you from future positions for skiing internationally?
– I take nothing for granted in that world. It should be canceled for the foreseeable future from participation in FIS contests. Willingness to forgive is greatest in income-dependent organizations in large nations like Russia, Saltvedt says.
«No 1 Russia»
AND VG met her for an interview before Lahti WC in 2017, she posed with her portrait on her shirt and text “No 1 Russia”. The newspaper writes that the background image of her phone also had her face.
– Nothing has changed. I buy them from time to time. My kids and grandkids have those shirts. I repeat: we are athletes and patriots.
– I am a child of the Soviet Union and have lived for a long time under the Commonwealth. We were brought up to love the motherland, respect the leader and respect the elders. nobody ever said that I don’t have the right to express my opinions, says Välbe.
