Legia’s Belarusian player Ilya Shkurin refuses to travel to Kazakhstan for political reasons.
Legia Warsaw’s Belarusian forward Ilya Shkurin will not travel with the team to Kazakhstan for their UEFA Europa League qualifying second-leg match against Aktobe, Idman.biz reports.
According to Polish journalist Krzysztof Marciniak, Shkurin, 25, has refused to join the squad for the away match (Legia won the first leg 1–0), citing political concerns. The striker fears that the Belarusian authorities could request the Kazakh security services to detain or pressure him. This concern likely stems from his public criticism of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko back in the summer of 2020.
In August 2020, while still playing for CSKA Moscow, Shkurin wrote: “Once again, I found out through social media that I’ve been called up to the national team. I’ll respond here, as long as the Lukashenko regime is in power, I refuse to represent the national team.”
Since then, Shkurin has not played for any Belarusian national side, neither the senior nor the U-21 team.
A month later, he was called up for the U-21 team for Euro qualifiers against the Netherlands and Portugal but did not report to camp. In December 2020, the Belarusian Football Federation filed a complaint with FIFA, but the governing body sided with the player and imposed no sanctions.
In 2021, Shkurin was removed from the official rosters of the senior and U-21 national teams. These lists are also submitted to the Belarusian Ministry of Youth and Sports and grant athletes exemption from military service. Shkurin lost this privilege.
In a later interview, Shkurin said: “I received draft notices and even had visits to my home. I’m not against the army, but given the current situation in Belarus, I don’t want to serve, at least not now. Could they open a criminal case against me? It’s possible.”
His manager, Valery Isaev, claimed Shkurin was under pressure: “They said Ilya must come to the national team camp and state his refusal there. But we knew the federation president was using military service as blackmail. They said outright: if Ilya doesn’t show up, he’ll be drafted.”
Around that time, Shkurin left Russia. When asked if he planned to return, he called the question “a provocation.”
After leaving CSKA, the forward went through several loan spells. He first joined Dynamo Kyiv for six months, then moved to Poland’s Rakow Czestochowa in February 2022. That autumn, he signed with Maccabi Petah Tikva in Israel’s second division. In July 2023, he was invited by Polish club Stal Mielec, where he scored 16 goals in the league. Rumors linked him to Bologna, though that move didn’t materialize. After his contract with CSKA expired, he remained in Poland. However, in his second season, he scored only five goals.
Despite that, Legia Warsaw did not hesitate, in February 2025, they signed Shkurin for €1.2 million. While he’s only scored twice in the Polish league so far, he found the net in the national cup final and recently scored the winning goal in the Polish Super Cup. He also featured in the first leg against Aktobe but will miss the return match.
Between 2017 and 2019, Shkurin played six matches for Belarus U-21, scoring once. He has never appeared for the senior national team.
Idman.biz
