It was supposed to be a typical hockey player interview.
In July 2019, the Russian sports website Sports.ru published an article about an NHL star by Artemi Panarin with. During an interview (you switch to another service) it was originally intended to deal with issues that players usually talk about at the end of the summer: the past vacation, the upcoming season, a lucrative club transfer, family life…
Supplier Alexander Golovin to my surprise, Panarin wanted to talk about something else. The striker, who grew up near Chelyabinsk, was tired of the injustice he saw in his homeland. Panarin talked about old people begging in subway stations, teachers living on miserable salaries and announced that the president Vladimir Putin it would be time to step aside with the corruption machinery.
– It was exceptional. Panarin did not go around, but hit the Putin regime in the sore spot, the long-time co-owner of Sports.ru Dmitri Navosha recalls to Urheilu.
– The interview gathered huge numbers of viewers and readers, but we were spared a lot of pressure then. Today, publishing similar content would be suicide for the editor.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, many were waiting for Panarin’s reaction. It hasn’t happened so far. It is suspected that the silence may be influenced by the turmoil caused by the 2019 interview, the subsequent accusations by Putin supporters or the fact that the hockey player, who recently became a father, wants privacy for his family.
– It is a good question why he is silent. Maybe he realizes that criticizing those in power today would have much harsher consequences, Navosha reflects.
– It could also be that no one has asked him the right questions, the media boss adds, referring to the reluctance of NHL reporters to deal with the painful topic.
There have been few doubters like Panarin in the Russian sports world. Since the start of the war, their voice has been even more muted. In a country where dissidents are imprisoned, beaten and threatened with constant baiting, it is much easier to remain silent.
Or support the power elite.
Former captain of the Russian national football team Artyom Dzyuba (in the main picture) declared in a published a couple of weeks ago in an interview (you move to another service) that he will stand by Putin, even if the alternative is death. The 34-year-old player strongly echoed the Kremlin’s message. He talked about nasty Europeans, the security threat and that he doesn’t want gender minorities in his country.
According to Navosha, Dzjuba is an extreme example of people who blindly believe everything that state television channels tell them.
– I think that, above all, this tells about the modesty of Dzjuba’s level of intelligence. Other athletes remain silent on the subject because they realize it is a minefield.
“The list serves as a warning”
The popular soccer player’s comments rain down on Putin, who is waging war. This has also been noted in Ukraine, where Dzjuba has been added to the so-called list of shame. This is a sports website List maintained by Tribuna.com (you will be redirected to another service) of Russian sports names that have openly supported their country’s rulers since the start of the war.
Navosha, who currently works in management positions at Tribuna.com, says that the Ukrainian parliament is also interested in the list. The purpose is to deliver the list to big sports federations and decision-makers when they deal with the possible return of Russian athletes to international sports.
There are currently around 240 names on the list. The group includes several internationally known athletes, coaches and sports managers, such as Olympic champions in skiing Alexander Bolshunov and Veronika Stepanovathe ski boss Jelena VälbeOlympic champion in swimming Yevgeny Rylov and hockey legends Vyacheslav Fetisov and Vladislav Tretyak.
– The list serves more as a warning than a punishment. It is important that other athletes do not justify the war, campaigning or other actions of Putin, says Navosha.
Russia and Belarus are closed from international activities in several sports. Recently, the leaders of sports organizations have spoken in a more moderate tone about the countries’ possible return to global competition.
President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach received strong criticism from the Ukrainian sports community when he implied that the Russians and Belarusians could enter next year’s Paris Olympics with a neutral status.
– Ukraine does not want to see a single Russian or Belarusian athlete. I personally feel that those who publicly condemn the war in Ukraine and thereby discredit the propaganda of Russia or Belarus could enter the competition, Navosha says.
Among other things, Russian tennis stars Andrei Rublev and Darja Kasatkinaan NHL player Nikita Zadorov and a football player Nadja Karpova have publicly demanded Russia to end the war, but they are rare in the big picture.
According to Navosha, there are many reasons. Athletes have been brought up as part of the system from a young age. Many people’s livelihood and future career prospects depend on the state. Many are simply afraid.
– Even athletes who are completely ignorant of world events are aware that they will get into trouble if they stop being useful to the state leadership.
Money plays a big role. Because the Russian power elite has bought the loyalty of the sports people internationally as well. State companies such as the gas giant Gazprom have signed sponsorship contracts in various sports, and Summi has not spared anything.
Could money open the way for Russia to return to international competition?
– That would be a mistake, Navosha says.
– It is widely known that Putin and Lukashenka claim sporting achievements in their names. Do the partners of the Olympics want athletes to pose with Olympic medals around their necks at Putin’s war events?
The defense war in Ukraine is a matter of the heart of Belarusian Dmitri Navoshka. Like many Eastern Europeans, he has had close ties to many countries during his life.
Navosha used to live in Moscow and managed three independent sports media in Russia (Sports.ru), Belarus (Tribuna_by) and Ukraine (Tribuna_ua). The life of the long-time media boss changed radically in the late summer of 2020, when the people of Belarus rose up to oppose the country’s autocratic rule Aljaksandr Lukashenka.
Giving up power was not an option for Lukashenka. Opposition leaders and protesters were beaten and imprisoned, independent media such as Tribuna’s Belarus editor were driven into exile, and Navosha, who actively criticized the regime, was added to the security service KGB’s terrorist list.
Navosha sold his share of Sports.ru two years ago and moved from Moscow to Kyiv. Today, he manages Tribuna’s editorials from Southern Europe and tries to do his part so that the barbaric war will one day end.
– Tribuna is blocked in Belarus, but we are the most popular sports website in the country in light of user numbers. It tells what kind of need people have for an alternative to the government’s propaganda.
Telling about the ups and downs of the sports world may not seem like the most important thing in the world right now, but with the help of sports, you can change a surprising amount. It was seen in Belarus in 2020, when around 2,000 elite athletes united to oppose the dictatorial regime and signed a petition for free presidential elections.
– The support of the athletes gave the citizens enormous strength and created a united front. I believe that thanks to that front, Lukashenka does not dare to order the Belarusian army to attack Ukraine, Navosha says.
– I hope the Russian star athletes find similar courage.