“He assured me that he really wants to play for the national team,” Karpin said in an interview with the Russian Federation. “But now, due to the difficult situation in Ukraine – where he has many relatives – he apologized and asked not to call him up for this training camp due to family reasons.”
Dzhuba has been captain of the national team since 2018. The 33-year-old attacker reacted angrily when Ukrainians accused Russian footballers of remaining silent about the war in Ukraine. On Instagram, Dzhuba said he was against discrimination on the basis of nationality and did not understand why the silence was blamed on Russian athletes.