Sanctioned Russian F1 driver says his country's athletes are victims of 'cancel culture,' echoing a phrase Putin used during the Ukraine invasion

• Russia's Nikita Mazepin was kicked off the Haas F1 team after Russia invaded Ukraine.
• Mazepin is the son of a Putin-linked Russian oligarch whose company was Haas' top sponsor.

Nikita Mazepin, a Russian racing driver kicked out of his Formula One team before the start of the 2022 season, said athletes from his country were the victims of "cancel culture" amid the invasion of Ukraine, echoing phrasing used by President Vladimir Putin.

Mazepin previously raced for the Haas team in F1, but was removed from his role soon after Russia invaded Ukraine in late February. While the team did not publicly state the reasons for his termination, it is believed that it was linked to his father Dmitry's ties to the Kremlin.

Since being terminated by Haas, Mazepin has remained reasonably quiet in public, but spoke to the BBC's "HARDtalk" program this week.

In the interview, he lamented the treatment of Russian athletes, many of whom had been subject to bans from international competition since the war in Ukraine began.

"I don't agree with being in sanctions and I've said previously that I intend to fight it," Mazepin told the BBC of his inclusion on a list of entities and individuals sanctioned by the EU.

"Perhaps now is not the right time because if you look at the whole situation that's happening against athletes in the general case, it's cancel culture against my country."

Mazepin was seemingly referring to the fact that a large number of sporting federations around the world — from soccer, to swimming, to gymnastics — banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing in any form as a result of the invasion of Ukraine. Belarus is a close ally of Russia.

Some sports, such as tennis and F1, continue to allow athletes from both countries to take part under the condition that they compete under a neutral flag.

Mazepin's use of the phrase "cancel culture" mirrored language used by Putin, who in March compared the international reaction to the Russian invasion to the treatment of "Harry Potter" author JK Rowling.

"They are now trying to cancel our country. I'm talking about the progressive discrimination of everything to do with Russia," Putin said in an address.

He then invoked Rowling, who he said had been subject to "progressive discrimination" for her comments on transgender women. Rowling has faced staunch criticism for her stance as a trans-exclusionary radical feminist.

In his BBC interview, Mazepin also denied having strong ties to Putin and being a supporter of the Russian president.

This denial came despite his father having attended a number of intimate meetings with Putin in recent months, and the younger Mazepin having posted a picture of himself with Putin on the Russian president's birthday in 2020.

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"That's incorrect," Mazepin said. "I'm a citizen of my own country. I was born in Russia, I was raised here.

"My only connection to my country's president is through the sport that I do, and the time that I met him it was actually at a race track after I had won the race."

At the time of the younger Mazepin's F1 sacking, Haas also cut ties with its main sponsor, Uralkali, which is part-owned by Dmitry. Uralkali's sponsorship of Haas was, in large part, the reason Mazepin was in Formula One at all.

Soon afterwards, both Mazepins were added to a European Union sanctions list because of Dmitry's links to Putin. The EU declared Dmitry Mazepin "a member of the closest circle" of Putin allies, and said his chemicals business was providing "substantial revenue" to the Russian government.