Marat Safin claims the coronavirus crisis is really a conspiracy for "chipization" of humanity.

The Hall of Famer, who is a former member of Russian Parliament, called the COVID-19 pandemic "ridiculous" and proposed a chip-implant conspiracy theory in an Instagram Sports.Ru live interview.

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"I think that people are preparing for chipization," Safin told Sports.Ru. "Back in 2015, Bill Gates said that we will have an epidemic, then a pandemic, our next enemy is a virus, not a nuclear war. Then they conducted a simulation at the Davos forum two weeks before the virus became known in the world. They all showed how all this would go.

"I don’t think that Bill Gates is such a predictor—he just knew, and everyone was getting ready. Then 5G why does it start? Then the nanochips will be introduced. Everything goes to that. Look what is happening around. The people are in a panic, everything is as it should."

Toni Nadal, Rafael Nadal's uncle and original coach, told Onda Cero's "El Transistor" program, Gates made the comments about the severity of the coronavirus when Nadal was in South Africa to face Roger Feder for the Match in Africa charity exhibition.

"My nephew, when he was playing in South Africa in February, spoke to Bill Gates and told him that what was happening in China was going to get complicated," Toni Nadal said in comments published by Marca earlier this month.

The Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist addressed the issue the world was not ready for an impending pandemic back in 2015 during a TED Talks speech.

"If anything kills over 10 million people in the next few decades it's most likely to be a highly infectious virus rather than a war," Gates warned in 2015.

"We're not ready for the next epidemic."

The two-time Grand Slam champion suggests Gates' comments weren't prescient, but rather part of a larger plan.

"I think that it’s no longer in the phones, but implant," Safin told Sports.Ru. "After all, vaccines. Look, everything is on the Internet. I’m not saying anything new... 

"I think that everything is not as it is told, it is all a prepared situation. But the people believe in everything, in horror stories on TV, everyone now knows, understands, advises each other how many masks to buy, what to do. Therefore, opinions were divided.

"Someone believes that morgues are everywhere, people are dying in bundles, civilization will end soon, but I don’t believe it. We’ll just be going around with the chip soon."



Asked why world leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President Donald Trump would conspire amid a pandemic that has killed more than 166,000 people and infected millions, Safin, who was elected from Putin's party, suggested government leaders are merely pawns for powerful figures pulling the strings behind the scenes.

"I think that there are better guys than all these our leaders—and not only ours," Safin said. "Guys who are really masters of money, masters of the world, and they can do this elementary...

"I think the guys are stronger behind them. These are more illuminated guys, but there are also behind them, which we do not even know about."

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