It was in the headlines of several Finnish media on Wednesday night by Roman Rotenberg name.
The reason was a comment made by the Russian-Finnish sports boss state channel for Match TV In connection with the St. Petersburg Economic Forum.
Match TV’s reporter asked Rotenberg what he thought about the fact that the International Ice Hockey Federation IIHF congratulated many players of the NHL champion Vegas Golden Knights, but not the Russians Ivan Barbashevia and Pavel Dorofeev.
Rotenberg announced that everyone in Russia is being congratulated and continued:
– I can only tell you about my own example. I have lived abroad, for example in Finland. And I will say honestly: there has been fascism for a long time.
– As far as current events are concerned, our president is right. You have to fight this. Our future depends on it.
The play is familiar. Vladimir Putin a person close to him on a sports-focused propaganda channel was spouting the same stream that the Kremlin apparatus has been firing since it decided to attack Ukraine.
If you ask the friends of Putin’s regime, fascists are anyone who does not accept the raging war that has been going on for almost a year and a half and the obsession with grabbing more power. State TV channels have demonized Finland and other European countries several times before.
So Rotenberg’s lies are not surprising, but they show brilliantly what kind of individual he is. The Rotenberg family did a lot of business in Finland, bought real estate and attracted the Jokers of the hockey pride of Helsinki to the Eastern European hockey league KHL. “Fascism” was not a problem at that point, just as it was not when Rotenberg’s brother Boris played in the Finnish national football team.
After the titles
Like many sportsmen involved in politics, Roman Rotenberg has also vehemently declared that sports do not belong in politics. Because he has tried to justify the fact that the Russian national ice hockey team should play in international tournaments despite the country’s war of aggression.
The context of Rotenberg’s recent Match TV interview alone shows how stupid his claim is.
Rotenberg gave an interview at the hockey tournament, which was organized in connection with the St. Petersburg Economic Forum. In the final match, Rotenberg’s team “Business” won the group called “Politics”, where another familiar from Punakone played Vyacheslav Fetisov. The top defender of yesteryear is now an active player in Putin’s party in United Russia.
Rotenberg emphasized in the interview that he is proud of his home country, his hometown St. Petersburg and the level of Russian hockey.
– This is a time of opportunities, as our president says. And we will all win together.
The enthusiastic ice hockey player has many titles in Russian ice hockey. He is the vice-president of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation and the St. Petersburg big club SKA, the head coach of SKA and nowadays also the commander of the “Russia 25” national team, which consists of Russian reserve reserve players.
Taking this into account, it is logical that Rotenberg is the mouthpiece of the Kremlin’s propaganda. According to those familiar with Russian sports, the business person would have no business in the aforementioned positions without a close connection to Putin’s administration. When Rotenberg announced in January 2022 that he was SKA’s new head coach, he was called a man in a suit with no sea rites.
Read more: Comment: What the hell is billionaire heir Roman Rotenberg doing as head coach of KHL giant SKA? The confusing name was primed for years
– Rotenberg has usurped power. He works on things in which he has no competence. Everything is in the hands of one person, who does not feel the need to answer to anyone for his actions. It shouldn’t be like that. There are lies, hypocrisy and censorship everywhere, former national team and NHL player Fyodor Tjutin said in 2021 to the Sport24.ru website.
Nor has Rotenberg’s latest national team project convinced everyone. Since the national ice hockey teams of Russia and Belarus are closed from international matches, Rotenberg and his supporters set up a series of exhibition matches, which he called the “Super Series”.
Belarus and the Russia 25 team coached by Rotenberg met eight times in the matches. Originally, the group had to play young promises under the age of 25. However, this was abandoned at an early stage, and now Russia 25 is represented by a mixed group of puck players capable of nailing it.
If you ask Rotenberg, the “Superseries” was a complete success, the matches of which attracted more interest than the World Cup and whose teams included NHL-level individuals.
Instead, the 1993 world champion and the NHL forward of the past years Andrei Nikolishinin it was a ridiculous joke.
– I got an invitation to this – I don’t even know what to call it – clown show, Nikolišin told recently.
A dangerous game
When the Russian media quoted the Match TV interview and especially the part about Finland, the mood among the readers of the sports website Sports.ru varied from frustrated to amused. Here are some excerpts from the Russian comment field:
“Strange that many people have lived in Finland, but only Rotenberg has seen fascism.”
“I will never forgive the Finnish fascists that their butter and cheese taste better than ours!”
“Did you return your Finnish passport? Or are you keeping it for evacuation?”
“Roma is a genuine capitalist. People should talk about the fascism of other countries and not about how “patriots” like him are robbing their homeland.”
Although many of his own citizens do not know how to take Rotenberg seriously, his propaganda has a dangerous ring to it. The Russian government has long and systematically maintained an image of a dangerous outside world and thus justified its arbitrariness. Its consequences can now be seen in Ukraine.
As Rotenberg’s interview again showed, sports play a central role in this show of deception. There is also food for thought for the few Finnish players who still continue to appear in the sports leagues of their eastern neighbor.
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