CSKA Moscow, with Fredrik Claesson in the team, paid tribute to the Russian army.
Now the Swede is being fooled by a Norwegian professor.
– It is unpleasant, says Atle Grönn to NRK.
After Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the Swedes have left the KHL one by one. But today there are still a total of four players from Sweden in the league, in the form of Robin Press, Pontus Åberg, Johan Mattsson and Fredrik Claesson. Many have criticized the Swedes for the decision to play in the country that invaded Ukraine, and Fredrik Claesson has received the most criticism.
Saw huge
Claesson moved to the KHL after the war broke out, and also to CSKA Moscow, which is the club of the Russian army. And when the team started the new KHL season, the letter “Z” appeared on the team’s warm-up jerseys. The letter has become a symbol of Vladimir Putin’s army and of the war against Ukraine, and afterwards the club declared on social media that it was a tribute to those fighting on the front line.
Criticism of Fredrik Claesson has not directly lessened since the images have spread in Sweden and Europe, but his agent sees no problem with it.
– I haven’t seen the shirt… but it’s called the army club. That’s what it stands for: Army Sports Club, CSKA. It’s been that way since the beginning. It’s the best club in Europe, believe me. No one else comes close, says agent Aljosa Pilko to Expressen.
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“Unpleasant”
But there are those who are all the more critical. The pictures of Claesson have also attracted attention in Norway, and NRK has been in contact with the Russian researcher Atle Grönn, who reacts strongly.
– It is unpleasant. But unfortunately you are not surprised by anything anymore, he says.
Grönn believes that Russia itself usually points out that sports and politics do not go together – but that at the same time you see it more often there than anywhere else.
– The propaganda in Russia is so crude and the rhetoric is so crude, vulgar and violent that everything else pales in comparison. This is precisely why symbolic markings like this cause so much discomfort.
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