Lesun is one of the few athletes from Russia, who has criticised the country’s President Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine.  

However, according to the BBC, Lesun was particular about avoiding words such as invasion or war during an interview.

"I quit all my sports positions on 22 February and in two days all the events [in Ukraine] began," Lesun told BBC.

"What did I feel?

"Can I use swear words in this interview?

"To say that I was shocked is to say nothing.

"I understood that the world would never be the same again."

Lesun said that his decision to not represent Russia anymore was "impulsive".

"Sportspeople in Russia are like a tool," he told BBC.

"A tool of propaganda.

"But nobody thinks about the effect their actions can have on the lives of others.

"Nobody thinks that their actions will lead to the death of boys and girls, men and women, elderly people.

"Of course, every person should decide for themselves what to do.

"OK - but now they will need to live with it.

"I am sorry to admit that Russian sportspeople can't influence the situation.

"And a lot of them do not even understand what is happening."

Responding to Lesun, the President of the Federation of Modern Pentathlon of Russia Vyacheslav Aminov said that the athlete had in fact retired last season after trying to make the team for the European Championships in July.

"For almost three years, Sasha Lesun has not played for the Russian national team, he lost his place in the rankings and actually ended his career last year," Aminov told Russia's official state news agency TASS.

"He asked me to be declared as an exception to the European Championship in Nizhny Novgorod, but I refused him because it would be a violation of the sporting principle of selection for the national team."

"In my opinion, after winning the Olympics in 2016, Sasha rested on his laurels more.

"According to my information, Lesun tried to find himself in the coaching field last year, but nothing came of it."

The head coach of the Russian modern pentathlon team Andrey Makushin added that Lesun was out of shape after testing positive for COVID-19 a year and a half ago and is one of the reasons for his career to end.

"Alexander Lesun has retired, and I don’t want to evaluate the correctness of his step now," said Makushin.

"Unfortunately, he had a very hard time COVID-19, and all attempts to fully recover over the past year and a half have not been successful."

Dmitry Svishchev, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Physical Culture and Sports in Russia, claimed that his words were misinterpreted by the British media.

"The British media, as always, are in their repertoire," Svishchev told TASS.

"Provocations and hysteria are their main themes that they use in relation to Russia.

"Now they have reached our pentathlete Alexander Lesun, tying his retirement from the sport to the political situation.

"I think that the British media should already be held accountable for such acts, as fakes like this have already become pervasive and hurt our athletes and our sport."