Stefan Reshko: "No one can become Lobanovsky anymore. I am happy for Shovkovsky"

Stefan Reshko, a former player of Dynamo Kyiv and the USSR national team, professor of the Department of Special Physical Training at the National Academy of Internal Affairs, who will turn 77 on 24 March, continues to work.

- Mr Stefan, the next few days will mark 45 years since you joined the Academy. Do you only dream about rest?

- I officially retired in 2005. But all this time I continued to work. This academic year I started working part-time. In the summer we will finish the academic year and, probably, I will leave the Academy. Recently, I had operations on both knees and had the joints replaced. It is difficult to walk. Unfortunately, the years take their toll. But I am still working. We train cadets to defend our country with dignity and professionalism. We practice defence against attack, detention with weapons and many other similar special physical exercises.

- What do you think of Dynamo's performance under the new coach? Can Shovkovskyi become Lobanovskyi?

- No one can become Lobanovsky anymore. I'm happy for Shovkovskyi. He has made a good start. Sometimes a coach can get lost at the start of his career. He lost a couple of matches and then everything went wrong. Oleksandr can continue to develop and gain experience. And in a few years it will become clear what his level as a coach is.

- If 10 years ago you had been told that Shovkovskyi would coach Dynamo and Shevchenko would become the president of the UAF, what would have surprised you more?

- That Shovkovskyi would become a coach. Shevchenko did travel the world, gained European experience. Andriy did well as a coach of the Ukrainian national team.

- Do you think Shevchenko can still return to coaching in the future?

- Anything can happen in our lives. Now we don't know what will happen tomorrow. But Shevchenko may not like working for the UAF. I do not believe that he will work as the UAF president for 20 years. I do not rule out his return to coaching in the future.

- Even during your playing career, you did not hide the fact that you are a Baptist. Can Baptists take up arms to defend their country?

- They can and do. About 25-30 people from our church joined the Armed Forces. It is a pity, but some have already died. Every day we pray for them. And for our Ukraine. By the way, some went to the Ukrainian army as chaplains. The Russian occupiers who came to our land are Satanists. Satan has entered Putin's brain and controls him. Putin has become insignificant, he has been taken over by demonic forces.

- Do you know many examples of Baptists who refused to join the army?

- We don't have any. The fact that Baptists cannot take up arms is a myth that was spread by Soviet propaganda. They called us a sect. In fact, the Greek word "baptizo" means baptism. Baptists are believing Christians who profess baptism by faith. We are patriots of Ukraine. We defend our country. We want it to be strong and free.

- I recently spoke with Jozsef Szabo, who came to Kyiv, like you, from Zakarpattia. He regretted that in 1959 he had to learn Russian in the capital of Ukraine because at that time almost no one at Dynamo spoke Ukrainian. When you arrived in Kyiv in 1971, was the language situation identical?

- Unfortunately, yes. At Dynamo, I spoke Ukrainian only with Petro Slobodian, who came from a village in Ivano-Frankivsk region. In my native village of Kliucharky in Zakarpattia, people generally spoke Rusyn, so I switched to it at home.

- Didn't the Dynamo veterans get together during the war?

- The last time we saw each other at the Dynamo base in Koncha Zaspa was on 15 October 2020, when we were awarded by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi. The meeting was dedicated to the 45th anniversary of Dynamo's victory in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and UEFA Super Cup. I was then awarded the Order of Merit, first class.

Maksym Rozenko