The Spokesperson for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, Ahmed Abu Zeid, categorically denied that the Egyptian government sent any observers to follow up on referendums that were recently organized in Ukraine, according to a statement published on the Egyptian Foreign Ministry’s Facebook page.
“In response to what was reported by some media outlets about Ukraine’s abstention from participating in the World Squash Championship, which is expected to be organized in Egypt next December, because Egyptian observers took part in referendums organized in Ukraine recently, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson categorically denied that the Egyptian government has dispatched any observers to follow up on these referendums,” the statement reads.
Controversial referendums
On Saturday, Ukraine announced that it would not participate in the World Squash Championship for women, which is expected to be organized in Egypt, citing the participation of Egyptian observers in the referendums to annex the occupied Ukrainian regions to Russia as the reason according to a Ukrainian official statement.
The Ukrainian Squash Federation said that its withdrawal from the tournament was due to “Egypt’s support for the fake Russian referendum in four regions annexed by Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Russian Federation on September 30.”
The statement added that “Observers representing the Egyptian government participated in referendums supported by Russia in the regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, while the international community condemned it.”
The statement added that a representative of the Egyptian government appeared to support a “fake referendum organized in conjunction with the murderer Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Ukrainian lands.”
“Unfortunately, there were representatives from Egypt in this phony referendum who asserted that the referendum was fair, so we had to take a decision to cancel the trip,” said Alena Ohonesian, vice president of Ukraine Squash Federation, said.
