Did famous Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka call Lukashenko an asshole? No, that's not true: The video in English was translated incorrectly, where the swear word was added.
The story originated from a video (archived here) where it was published by eastern_europe_news on June 8, 2023, under the title "Lukashenko is an asshole for athletes."
The text on the video, translated from Russian to English by Lead Stories staff, reads:
Famous Belarusian athlete called Lukashenko an asshole (Russian: козел)
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Fri Jun 9 07:13:40 2023 UTC)
During a press conference for the French Open quarter-finals, Aryna Sabalenka, the world's No. 2 tennis player, shared her thoughts on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict when questioned by a journalist.
"Like, it's a tough question. I don't support war, meaning I don't support Lukashenko right now," - she said.
After declining to respond to inquiries regarding her stance on the Belarusian President and Belarus' role in the Ukrainian war, Aryna Sabalenka finally broke her silence on the matter with her recent comment.
