Outrage in Poland as former national team player Maciej Rybus (66 apperances) makes interview to rationalize his stay in Russia after its invasion of Ukraine

Maciej Rybus is a former Legia Warszawa player who later went to play in Russia. In years 2012-16 he played for Kadyrov's Terek Grozny and after that (and good EURO 2016) he went to Olympique Lyon. He couldn't make it there, so he came back to Russia. In years 2017-2022 he played for Lokomotiv Moscow. After Russian invasion of Ukraine he decided to stay in Russia (as opposed to Sebastian Szymański or Grzegorz Krychowiak for example). This was his end of career in Polish national team. Now he's a Rubin Kazan player.

Yesterday he made his first big interview since 2022 for a Polish TVP Sport. Here's a translation – I also highlightedhis most controversial statements (in eyes of Polish public).
Here's original: https://sport.tvp.pl/76697312/maciej-rybus-pierwszy-taki-wywiad-zostajac-w-rosji-nie-zrobilem-nikomu-krzywdy

Sebastian Staszewski, journalist (J): Do you still have a Polish passport?
Maciej Rybus (MR): That's one way to start an interview.

J: To warm you up

MR: Yes, I do. And why shouldn't I have one?

J: Reading the comments appearing on the internet after you decided to stay in Russia after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, one appeared particularly often: 'Rybus, give up your Polish passport'.

MR: I was getting all sorts of messages. They wrote that I had sold out, that they should draft me into the Russian army. That I should get the fuck out and not come back to Poland. That I was a rag, a traitor, a Russian onuca (footwrap associated in Poland with Russian army and sympathisers of this country).

J: Did that hurt?

MR: It did hurt. But by deciding to stay in Russia, I knew what might await me.

J: Let us start from the beginning: On 24 February 2022, the troops of the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine and started a war that continues to this day. Despite the war, however, you decided to stay in Russia and play in the league there. Why?

MR: It's all more complicated than people think.

J: This is no explanation. Life is the art of choices.

MR: At the beginning I didn't want to react rashly. What happened surprised everyone, including me, no one had any idea how the situation would develop, how long this war would last. I was wrestling with my thoughts, analysing. Should I stay? Or maybe leave? I didn't know what to do.

J: Many athletes didn't have this dilemma. They simply packed their suitcases and left Russia after a few months. Like Sebastian Szymanski or Rafal Augustyniak. You stayed.

MR: They had nothing in common with the country. They had contracts and that was all. I, on the other hand, have a wife there who is Russian, two sons, real estates, a life that has developed over ten years. In fact, it was in Russia that I became a real man, started a family, made money and secured our future. It was also where I achieved my greatest footballing successes. Leaving it all overnight was not so easy.

J: And in retrospect, after two years of war, do you think it was a good choice?

MR: For my family – for sure.

J: And for you?

MR: As a professional athlete, I faced harsh criticism many times, but what happened after the war broke out was like an avalanche that crushed me. At a certain point I couldn't cope, the scale of the heckling was unbelievable. It was thousands of posts, hundreds of private messages. Some of them were going over the top, writing, for example, that I should die. People around me advised me to give up social media, but I didn't want to be hounded. In the end I didn't do it, but for a few months I tried not to put anything on Twitter or Instagram, because any activity resulted in an outpouring of shit.

J: Your decision stirred up huge emotions in Poland, sometimes – as you yourself noted – extreme. However, you could have expected this.

MR: Interestingly, I only saw these emotions on the Internet. No one ever approached me on the streets. Neither in Russia, nor in Poland, nor anywhere else. Recently in Antalya, we ran into a group of Poles. The only thing I heard from them was a request to take a picture together. It was the same just after the outbreak of war, when I wanted to fly to the country. There were no more connections to Moscow, so someone suggested flying to Kaliningrad and then crossing the border on foot. I was travelling with my older son, people helped us a lot. The situation only changed online. There I immediately became a 'Russian'.

J: You mention the family, its welfare. Isn't that a mere excuse?

MR: It isn't.

J: Or did you, however, act cynically and choose the money you could have earned in Russian clubs? The former deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Marcin Przydacz, once called them "bloody".

MR: And what exactly did he say?

J: I'll quote his entry from June 2022: "There is nothing more embarrassing than hiding behind +family welfare+ when it is simply about big money. And it's blood money".

MR: This is the Minister's opinion. He was entitled to it. But actually, you can answer one question for me: why should I have left Russia?

J: Everyone will find a different reason.

MR: But I ask you: why do you think I should have left then?

J: Because it is immoral to make Russian money in the middle of a war, when thousands of people, including children, are dying in Ukraine, when the world discovers massacres like the one in Bucha.

MR: But am I doing anyone any harm?

J: You don't have to run around the forest with a rifle and shoot to do harm.

MR: After all, I am doing the same thing I did before the war.

J: Circumstances have changed, however. Before there was no war, now there is.

MR: I understand, anyone in my position would have had the right to make their decision. I made mine. Not under the pressure of people or posts on the Internet, but according to my conscience. I like life in Russia, in Moscow. I quickly acclimatised there, got to know the language, the people, who are my friends. The family feels comfortable there. But, unfortunately, war broke out… Some time ago, when I was flying on holiday, the seat next to me was taken by Anatoly Tymoshchuk, a legend of the Ukrainian national team. After the war he stayed in St Petersburg. He is in a similar situation to me, he has a Russian wife, children who were born there. And he had similar dilemmas. Someone will say that we made a lot of money, so we could move to Spain or Cyprus at any time. We probably could, but it would be starting life all over again. Nothing pleasant, especially for the children.

J: Do they understand what is happening around Dad?

MR: Probably not, the sons are too young. But Lana regularly received offensive posts. In Polish, Russian, English. She went through hell. But she's an Ossetian from Vladikavkaz, women there are very strong.

J: Doesn't war raise the temperature in your home? You're a Pole, she is a Russian.

MR: No, we don't talk about it at all. Even at the beginning it sometimes happened, because you know that for everyone what is happening in Ukraine was a shock, but later we decided to avoid the subject. It may surprise someone, but we don't have Russian television in our flat. Neither do we have a Polish one. We have a TV, but we only watch Netflix, YouTube on it.

J: And you don't know what's going on in the world?

MR: I look at Twitter, but I try to avoid war topics.

J: It's a convenient explanation. You cover your eyes, plug your ears, and people are dying a few hundred kilometres away. And you say, "I don't know, I'm busy."

MR: It's not like that. I'm experiencing it all very much. But I don't want to go crazy. I have a family to provide for, I have a job to do. Let me repeat: I am not hurting anyone by my actions.

J: In that case, can you say outright that you condemn the war in Ukraine?

MR: I believe that every war is evil, because every war brings death and many other terrible things. Like all reasonable people, I would prefer the world to be at peace. But, unfortunately, this is not always the case.

J: In the summer of 2022, you had a good opportunity to change your surroundings. After five years of playing for Lokomotiv Moscow, your contract with that club came to an end. You had a card in your hand, you were the master of your fate, you could have chosen to play in another country. Why didn't you take that chance?

MR: Because I only got one offer: from Spartak Moscow. I also had the option to extend my contract with Loko by one year, but Spartak offered a two-year contract. I had no other options. (This is a lie or he lied before. In an interview for Russian Bookmaker-Ratings a year ago he said he had a lot of offers, as weszlo.com noticed).

J: It was only June, the beginning of the transfer window. If you had waited a few weeks, something would probably have come up.

MR: Maybe yes, maybe no. Spartak offered a contract for two seasons, for very good money. I like to have everything under control, especially in such uncertain times. So I figured that at my age – and I was about to turn 33 – a better offer wouldn't come along.

J: So money was the deciding factor.

MR: Rather, it was the stability they could guarantee us.

J: It never crossed your mind to leave Russia?

MR: Once. When Prigozhin's raid on Moscow was underway. Lana and the kids were in the capital, and I was in Kazan. We were all filled with fear.

J: You could move to Poland…

MR: My dad, when he was still alive, strongly urged me to do so, especially in the first months after the war broke out. We thought about it, but I don't know if Lana would be able to find her way in Poland. She would be far away from her family and friends, she wouldn't know the language. The same goes for our sons, who mainly speak Russian. For them, it would be a complete novelty. I myself have not lived in Poland for a dozen or so years…

J: So how does a Pole live in Russia?

MR: The same as before the war.

J: Do you not feel any hostility?

MR: No one approaches Poles on the streets there, no fingers are pointed at us. On Christmas Eve, I went to a pastoral service in a Polish church in Moscow. It was the first time since I played in Russia. On 21 December my dad died and something inside told me to go… The service was in Polish, the majority in the church were Poles, although there were quite a few foreigners as well. So it is not that I am the only Pole in Russia. There are many. And they all function normally. I only had trouble once, before the match against Sweden. Robert Lewandowski called me. He asked if it was safe in Moscow, if we should play against the Russians. Later the decision was made that we were boycotting the match. We were to post a graphic on Instagram declaring that we were refusing to play. I didn't think, I live in Russia, and I shared that too. Well, and the hejt poured in from the other side. Hundreds of messages. After fifteen minutes, I decided to delete the post.

J: Did you want to play with the Russians?

MR: No, it wasn't about that. I wanted peace of mind.

J: You talk about family, stability, peace of mind. Or should you admit outright that Russia is your place on earth? You went there more than ten years ago, to Grozny. Anyway, this episode of your career has also aged ugly. Today, Ramzan Kadyrov's brutal troops are fighting Ukrainians.

MR: I didn't see this coming in 2012…

J: This is unnecessary irony.

MR: But what else am I supposed to answer to such a question? There were four of us at Terek: Piotrek Polczak, Marcin Komorowski, Maciek Makuszewski and me. We went to play football, not to play politics. In fact, for three of the four years we lived in Kislovodsk, a few hundred kilometres from Grozny. We only visited the city on the occasion of home matches. And it was very safe there. Sure, you could see the scars of war, damaged buildings or police patrols armed to the teeth, but in general – nothing was happening there.

J: You did, however, meet Kadyrov. And you were in his villa.

MR: Yes, once, with the whole team.

J: You also got a Mercedes from him. As a birthday present when you scored two goals against Dynamo Moscow. Do you still have it today?

MR: Not from Kadyrov, but from Magomed Daudov, the president of Terek. It was a gift I got not because of affection but because of my football achievements. I drove it for a year and a half and then sold it to the team manager. (Another lie he was caught on. During TV interview "Po Gwizdku" in 2021 he said: It was after the match against Dynamo Moscow, in which I scored two goals. Kadyrov called coach Cherchesov, who turned on the speakerphone. First I heard birthday wishes and then a promise that a present would be waiting for me when I returned to Grozny. And it was a new Mercedes).

J: You left Chechnya after four years by moving to Lyon. However, you only lasted one season in France. And… you returned to Russia again.

MR: At that time I could have stayed in Grozny, they offered me one million euros a year, the highest contract in Terek's history, because previously they paid a maximum of 600,000. But I refused, I wanted to try something else. Olympique was a great club, runner-up in France, they had great players like Memphis Depay, who I got on well with. I played a dozen games there, in the quarter-finals of the Europa League I scored a penalty in a series of eleven against Besiktas, in the semi-finals against Ajax Amsterdam I scored an assist. A fun adventure, but unfortunately the minutes spent on the pitch were lacking, and the World Cup in Russia, which I really wanted to go to, was approaching. So I decided to change my surroundings. A great offer came from Lokomotiv.

J: And it was the shot of a lifetime?

MR: Definitely. With Loko I won the championship, two cups, the super cup. I played thirteen games in the Champions League, against Bayern Munich, Juventus, Atletico Madrid. I made a lot of money. And I had an excellent time there, because it's a club that is far from a corporation like Spartak, for example. It's a place where I felt at home. To this day I still keep in touch with the club's staff. I am, by the way, a supporter – of Legia and Lokomotiv. I will never regret this choice.

J: And the transfer to Spartak? As I mentioned before, it was a great opportunity to leave Russia. And in the end – apart from the money – you didn't gain much from the move.

MR: Spartak is the most popular club in Russia, just like Legia in Poland has fans all over the country. Although, when I was there, there was a protest going on and attendance at the stadium was low. By contrast, when we went to other cities, Spartak supporters were in hotels, airports and shops. However, I only played a few games and although we finished third in the league, I actually cannot consider this transfer a success.

J: In the end you ended up at Rubin Kazan, where you have not actually played since the beginning of the season.

MR: I didn't have much choice. I only heard back from Rubin, there was also a vague enquiry from Baltika Kaliningrad. It started nicely in Kazan, because on the occasion of the match against Spartak the club representatives presented me with a bronze medal for the previous season. But in the league I played only once, a dozen minutes, just then. And to this day I am still healing the injury….

J: If you heal it, are you still going to play in the Russian league?

MR: We'll see. I'm not thinking that far ahead. Or maybe I won't return to playing again?

J: Is it possible?

MR: Everything is possible. I've been struggling with a knee injury, a muscle injury for a long time. During the winter I worked for almost two months in Turkey to get back to health, and so far everything is going in the right direction. I miss the joy of playing football, I miss the adrenaline. But some things I can't jump over. If I'm not able to play at a good level, then I'll say thank you.

J: Then maybe you will finally leave Russia?

MR: I haven't thought about that yet. I used to plan to help Mariusz Piekarski as a liaison officer in the east after my career ended. Poland's relations with Russia seemed to be correct, there was no feeling of hatred in either country. So I thought I would live in Moscow, use my contacts, my knowledge of the language, and help organise transfers. But the war broke out. I also planned to live for two countries, because there were up to five planes a day flying directly from Warsaw to Moscow. But the war broke out. And nothing came out of my plans again. That's why I'm not planning anything now.

J: And if there is eventually an offer from a country other than Russia?

MR: I will go wherever they want me. It's not that I insisted on Russia.

J: You are unlikely to end your football career in Poland….

MR: I doubt it. If I'm healthy, I think I could play another two, maybe three years. But Legia are unlikely to take me anymore.

J: Then maybe Pelikan Łowicz, whose former junior you are?

MR: I'd rather say no.

J: You are unlikely to play for the Polish national team anymore either. Although as recently as March 2022 you were called up for the match against Sweden. This aroused a lot of emotion, by the way.

MR: At that time Czesław Michniewicz called up me, Krychowiak and Szymański, who played for Dynamo. Krycha and I travelled to the national team via Kaliningrad, where we arrived by plane, and then we reached Poland by crossing the border in Bezledy. Unfortunately, the day after it turned out that I had a coronavirus and against Sweden I did not play. As it turned out – this was probably my last opportunity to play in the white-and-red jersey.

J: How did you take Michniewicz's decision?

MR: At first I was sad, no one would want to end with the national team in such a way. But I understood the coach. Anyway, Michniewicz called me earlier. I was just at my sister's place in Łowicz. He said he wouldn't call me up because the controversy surrounding the situation was very big, all the noise would interfere with preparations. Well, he was probably right.

J: Did chairman of Polish FA Cezary Kulesza or Michniewicz persuade you to leave Russia and – by doing so – keep your chance to play for the national team?

MR: This is my life and my career. Nobody is going to tell me what to do.

J: I ask if there was pressure.

MR: No, there was none. After all, as a Loko footballer, I received a call-up. On the other hand, I knew that it was just a matter of time that I would not be welcome on the national team. Anyway, I had some signals, my manager was also Michniewicz's agent, so leaks were reaching me.

J: The Polish Football Association published an announcement on 20 June 2022. "The coach informed the player that, due to his current club situation, he will not call him up for the September national team training camp and will not be taken into account when determining the composition of the team that will go to the World Cup." In your opinion, was this a good decision by the Polish federation?

MR: When Michniewicz called, I was not surprised. "I said, 'Coach, I don't have any complaints'. I was already in my thirties, I wasn't playing regularly at the club, the youngsters were pushing and there was no certainty that I would go to the World Cup. I had come to terms with that. The only unpleasant thing was the thought that I would never play for the national team again.

J: If you were sure you would go to the World Cup, would you have left Russia?

MR: I would certainly have considered it more seriously.

J: In total, you played 66 matches in the national team. Are you not expecting a farewell at the National Stadium?

MR: No. Instead of applause, there would probably be a lot of whistling.

J: Do you still keep in touch with your teammates?

MR: Of course. With Kamil Glik, Kamil Grosicki, Szymański, Karol Świderski, Tomek Kędziora. I even wrote with him recently. I think each of them understands my situation.

J: Why have you been silent for the last two years?

MR: I didn't want to add fuel to the fire. I had dozens of interview offers from the Polish media, after matches in the mixed zons Russian journalists asked me about politics, passports. But I didn't want to talk about it. I didn't want to harm myself, my family. These days one word can cause a storm. Anyway, Mario [Piekarski] saw for himself what a row there could be after such an interview. Because of one, he had to delete his Twitter account. (I am not sure after which interview Piekarski deleted his account. Probably after the one where he compared Rybus's situation with a murder od Gdańsk mayor Paweł Adamowicz during charity event. Piekarski had some… controversial takes regarding Russia before).

J: Are you no longer afraid now?

MR: I've matured into it. I've thought some things through, I probably needed to understand. In retrospect, it's good that I didn't answer some questions in the heat of the moment. Life has many shades and sometimes it's hard to see. I have nothing to reproach myself with. Over the years I have done my best to represent my country to the best of my ability and I think I didn't deserve the treatment I received after the war broke out. But I know how it is, emotions run high, so I accept what happened.

J: And aren't you worried that you will be remembered not for your 66 national team appearances, including the one against Germany when we won 2-0 in Warsaw, but precisely for the decision you made at the start of 2022?

MR: I don't care about that.

J: Everyone would like to be remembered well.

MR: And how will you remember me?

J: We have known each other for 15 years, we are friends. So I am not neutral. I was thinking more about the millions of fans.

MR: I'm interested in how the people I care about will remember me. And they will remember me as a solid footballer and a good person. That's enough for me.

Summary:
This interview became the hottest topic in Polish football yesterday and Rybus was widely criticized by journalists and fans (with small minority NameBunchOfNumbers defending him). Here are some of the opinions:

Jan Mazurek (weszlo.com): He doesn't give a shit about the war on Ukraine. He covers his ears and pretends not to hear, like Rudolf Höss and his wife Hedwig in the "Zone of Interest" at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Liar. A traitor. Putin's man. Shame that Maciej Rybus ever played for the Polish national team.

Damian Smyk (Goal.pl): Maciej Rybus is a Soviet footballer and should be treated as such. I hope this interview is his last appearance in the Polish media. He should be forgot in the category of a Polish player. We don't write about some Vladimir Duporov of FK Mukhosransk, then we don't have to write about Rybus either.

Krzysztof Stanowski (weszlo.com and Kanał Zero owner, one of the most influential journalists recently): Rybus has no interest, no knowledge, no insight, avoids war topics. All he has on his TV is Netflix. But he was scared once: when Prigozhin was going to Moscow. That's when he got interested. Calm down, Maciek. Prigozhin is dead, Putin is holding firm. You can sleep peacefully.

Michał Kołodziejczyk (Canal+Sport director in Poland): Until Maciej Rybus gave interviews, I thought there was something I didn't know about his remaining in Russia. It turns out that you could judge without fear. It is enough to know that he is stupid but rich.

Cezary Kucharski (former NT player and former Lewandowski's agent): Maciek Rybus admittedly holds a Polish passport but has completely soaked in homosovieticus mentality. And he probably isn't even aware of it.