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Nadya Karpova
Karpova has played 24 times for Russia and has relatives in Ukraine

In Russian, Nadezhda means 'hope'. There is a tattoo on her neck that says "English" When she was 21, she had it done, but she doesn't remember what she hoped for. It has real meaning now.

Only a few Russian sports people have spoken out against Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Three of the country's international football players have done so.

In February, Fedor Smolov of the Russian men's team posted a 'No war!' message on the social media platform. Since then, he has been quiet. On the day of the war, Sobolev posted a message but later deleted it.

There are three people who play club football in Spain. She is the only member of the Russian women's team to speak out against something. Since the beginning of the war, she has been posting anti-war messages on her social media accounts.

She says she can't just look at it and not speak out. I don't know what would happen if I were in Russia, but I feel a responsibility to speak out.

The 27-year-old moved to Spain in the summer of 2017. She played in the last European Championship for Russia. The Russian team will not be present in England from 6-31 July. The country's invasion of Ukraine resulted in a ban on them.

She doesn't touch her food when we talk about Ukraine. She arrived early, hungry, and ordered a hotpot that was put on to a stove burner. The diners add vegetables, meat and noodles.

The soup starts to boil while we are talking. She doesn't pay attention to it.

She is careful with what she says. Even though a new Russian law can result in up to 15 years in jail for spreading fake news about the military, she is not trying to censor herself.

She is not afraid to say something wrong. She is afraid of forgetting She's trying to not say anything that's offensive. She becomes less careful as the interview continues.

She says that Russian propaganda is trying to convince Russians that they are against us and our unique mission.

Which unique mission are you talking about? I do not believe that Russians are special. I am not ashamed to be Russian as Russia doesn't mean the government or Putin.

Everything was taken from us byPutin. He did it with our tacit approval. Strong resistance was not witnessed by the government. Most people thought it was not their business to be unjust.

I took part in two opposition rallies, the last one in support of Navalny, but I don't think I have done enough.

People who justify the war are hostages to the media. I think we need to do everything we can to let them go.

Nadya Karpova
Russia are banned from Euro 2022, being held in England from 6-31 July

She arrived in Spain at a young age. Even though Russia failed to reach the knockout stage in the Netherlands, Valencia still offered her a contract.

She was the only female among nine young football players from all over the world chosen to feature in an Adidas advertisement campaign.

The level of women's football was the main motivating factor for relocation. It is difficult to play football in winter in Russia. She moved to Spain and there was a fundamental change in her.

She said she stopped being afraid of speaking out. No one would blame me for living with a girl, and there is no stigma about being a lesbian in this area.

Your coach can ask you if your girlfriend will attend the game. Wow, I thought. People in Russia only ask if you have a partner.

She had been hiding her homosexuality since she was a child. She talked about her first professional contract.

The owner of the club tried to convince her father that they would look after her lesbian daughter.

Lesbians needed special treatment according to these people. I was young at the time. My dad told the man to leave. He said that he was ready to talk about football.

There was a big difference between Russia and here.

The promotion of homosexuality among children was made illegal in Russia under a new law.

There are no gay athletes on the Russian national team. Her sexuality has never been discussed in public. A year ago, she told her mother.

She says that the main problem of gay children is that they are always in the closet. You don't want to be judged by society. It's ridiculous when your state becomes the bully.

Russian propaganda is trying to get rid of people who speak out against the war.

"For instance, when she was talking about Maxim Galkin's anti-war stance, she said he was gay!" Being gay is like being a bad person with no morals.

Nadya Karpova
Karpova has also played for Sevilla and Valencia in Spain, moving to Espanyol in 2020

Tamila Khimych, who is Ukrainian, was also at Espanyol in March.

She looked at me cautiously when she met me. She didn't know if I was pro-war or not.

I would like to cry. I was wondering if her family and friends are okay. It was terrible to know that she could lose a loved one.

I am overwhelmed with emotion. Sometimes I can't believe that it's happening.

Her team-mate's relatives are safe and she was very happy to hear that. Thousands of people have been killed in the war and no one knows when it will end.

She admits that she's happy that her current job isn't connected to the Russian state in any way. She thinks it's a good idea to not go to Russia this summer to visit her parents and friends.

She is still hoping for change.

She wants more Russians to speak out so other people who are against the war know that they are not a minority.

It's not possible to just pretend that nothing is happening. There should be an end to the time of silence.

The government will be gone one day. We should be prepared to sort things out when this happens.

I hope it happens very soon.