Was Olympic ice dance gold medalist Roman Kostomarov, secretly transferred abroad for rehabilitation? No, that's not true: In January, Kostomarov was hospitalized in Moscow with pneumonia and complications that led to gangrene. Despite various rumours about the treatment location, Kostomarov is currently rehabilitating in Russia.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published on the @russiancelebritynews TikTok account on May 12, 2023. The voice-over reports (as translated by Lead Stories staff):
Roman Kostomarov has secretly been transferred abroad. The figure skater quietly left Russia. It is not known exactly where the Olympic champion has gone to. Well-informed sources believe that it is either Israel or Germany. The athlete's family is still silent. Roman Kostomarov is currently undergoing rehabilitation in a private hospital abroad... According to the website "mk.ru", Kostomarov was released at the end of April. He was driven to the airport by a special vehicle...
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Sat May 13 08:14:08 2023 UTC)
The creator of the video refers to the website of the popular Moscow daily outlet "Moskovsky Komsomolets" (MK) which is considered a yellow media. The information on the athlete´s state of health was presented as exclusive (archived here).
In January 2023, Kostomarov was hospitalized with pneumonia. As a result of complications, the athlete developed gangrene. Later, it was reported that Kostomarov had his feet amputated.
Speculation about Kostomarov's health continued to appear in various media outlets, including TASS, with rumours that he will have to undergo a number of surgeries for the prosthetic process. Reuters also reported on the amputation, citing Russian sources. Typing the keywords "Kostomarov's state" in Russian in TikTok, resulted in about 257 million views at the time of writing.
On May 8, Kostomarov himself came forward on his Instagram, thanking everyone for the support. Russia's communications and media regulator, Roskomnadzor, officially banned the app in March 2022. However, the Olympic champion posted (as translated by Lead Stories staff):
There are still a lot of difficulties ahead, but I hope I will be able to overcome them all, thanks to my family, friends and doctors who rescued me "back-from-the-dead" and are still working with me today.
On May 11, Kostomarov's wife, Oksana Domnina, denied the "secret check-out" from the hospital and his departure abroad, in an interview with sportrbc.ru. The former champion is also supported by his ice dancing partner, Tatiana Navka, who is the wife of Putin´s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov. The day after her birthday, April 13, 2023, she posted on her Telegram channel that Roman greeted her personally.
