Kerzhakov explained the departure from Russia with the words "I am scared"

“I am scared,” the former Zenit scorer Alexander Kerzhakov explained his departure from Russia with such words.

“I never in my life could believe that this is possible,” said the football player, answering the question of the journalist Nobel Arustamyan, which was not satisfied with “what is happening in Russia now.” Kerzhakov added that every time he was asked about the most important desire in an interview, the football player answered: "So that there was no war."

“Because I don’t understand how it is possible. So that now in such a modern and progressive society it could happen that is now being affected,” the football player emphasized.

Kerzhakov and his family left for Dubai in the fall of 2022. “When we realized that“ damn it, we went, ”Kerzhakov commented on his decision, adding that in the“ current situation ”his family wanted to be there,“ where is warm ”, and not in Russia.

“Do not run away, do not disown, just leave for this period of time,” the football player added.

Later, Kerzhakov and his family moved to Cyprus, where the interview took place.

• In September 2022, "partial mobilization" began in Russia. At the same time, the authorities sharply tightened the laws related to the refusal to participate in hostilities and evasion of military service. This led to the second from the beginning of the war in Ukraine by a large -scale wave of emigration from Russia. In the country itself, the persecution of opponents of the invasion continues, administrative and criminal articles, as well as the law on "foreign agents" apply to them.
• Alexander Kerzhakov is the best scorer in the history of Russian football and St. Petersburg club Zenit, for which he scored 161 goals. Now he is mainly engaged in coaching. Until June 2022, Kerzhakov collaborated with the Nizhny Novgorod club, and from February to early April 2023 he coached the Carmiotiss Cyprus club.