Gold Medalist Oksana Baiul to Newsmax: 'I'm Not Scared' of Vladimir Putin

Olympic gold medalist Oksana Baiul, who at 16 was the first and only figure skater to win a gold medal for Ukraine in 1994, told Newsmax Friday that if she could get one message to Russian President Vladimir Putin, it would be, "I'm not scared of you."

"Putin is trying to silence everyone who is not giving up their power and the power is in our voice, and I am a strong believer to speak up for my people in my country," Baiul, who lives in Las Vegas with her husband, said in an interview on Newsmax's "John Bachman Now."

"They're asking me to speak up. So my message to him: I'm not scared of you. I've been through so many things in my life, and I will speak for my country, for the Ukrainian people."

Her comments come after she told Newsmax earlier this week that Putin has developed a "blacklist" to target Ukraine's athletes.

The legendary skater became emotional when talking about Dnipro, her hometown in Ukraine, which was hit by Russian airstrikes overnight.

"God bless Americans, and God bless every single volunteer who is volunteering in Ukraine," she said. "Those are the people who we are staying in touch with, and my message to them is, We're here for you."

Baiul added that she's been watching the news about Poland and its support for the refugees pouring over its borders while fleeing from the Russians.

"I've had one woman who got to the USA through Poland and she told me, 'Oh, my God, those volunteers in Poland, the mothers, the Polish moms what they do,'" said Baiul. "They gave baby carriages you know, they've left them next to their buses, and they're trying to just share everything they could share."

Baiul also said a woman who is her seamstress here in the United States is back in Ukraine where she is sewing Ukrainian flags for the military while her husband is fighting in the defense forces.

"She is actually making the flags right now for me too," Baiul said.

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