Artur Rudko: "I refused to join the Cypriot club because of the owner, a Russian"

Ukrainian goalkeeper Artur Rudko told us why he refused to join Cypriot club Karmiotissa.

"There was one offer in early June - Torpedo Kutaisi. I refused, hoping to find something better. First of all, I wanted to find a team at home, in Ukraine.

And there was a team in Cyprus. I didn't agree to go there because of the club's president. He is Russian, and I understand that he is not in favour of us. Not Krasava, in a word. This is the Karmiotissa club, where Khatskevich used to work. The Russian Dmitry Punin owns this club. I don't know him personally, but judging by the reviews... I don't know, maybe he has a good opinion of Ukraine and not so good of Russia. But I'm not completely sure, and the reviews were not the best.

If we talk about the owners of Paphos, where I played from 2019 to 2022, then there, after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, I was immediately offered help. And the people there have an adequate outlook, so to speak. But I refused to go to Karmiotissa. There is not a person like Krasava there who is adequate and understands everything that is happening and is drowning for Ukraine," Rudko said.