[brooks] Panarin Taking Leave of Absence Amid 2011 Abuse Allegations; Political Hit Job?

https://twitter.com/aiviskalnins/status/1363909164834127872

Since I know he's not a frequent tweet source here - Aivis is a Latvian KHL reporter

So evidently from the New York post article the Russian embassy personnel may be squeezing him as well

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I wish they would be a little more specific as to the leave of absence. 2 games, 2 weeks, 2 months?

I'm sure they don't know. We're talking about his family being at risk.

read something today where Ovi campaigned for Putin so thats probably not going to happen.

 

it's a serious situation. the Russians poison people at a drop of the hat. Putin's a complete horror show and wants to bring back the CCCP circa 1950.

Nah, not really.

Putin dreams of restoring Czarist Russia pre-1914.

I've been afraid of something like this happening for months with his courageous and outspoken criticism of Putin. What is needed is unified outcry and support from other Russian NHL players, but I doubt it will happen. It would be great if at least one, namely Ovechkin, could step up.

Me, too. When I first heard that he commented on Navalny, my immediate thought was "is he nuts? He'll never be able to go back." But a man's gotta do what he thinks is right.

FWIW, I don't think Putin respects any boundaries or thinks he can be held accountable in any meaningful way by any person or nation. He'd kill Panarin if he thought he could get away with it cleanly.

Ovi seems pretty much in the tank for Putin. I'm sure he reaps many benefits back home for his public loyalty and hasn't shown any real political conviction that would alter that.

I've been afraid of something like this happening for months with his courageous and outspoken criticism of Putin. What is needed is unified outcry and support from other Russian NHL players, but I doubt it will happen. It would be great if at least one, namely Ovechkin, could step up.

Fat chance. They're chummier than shark-infested waters.

Oh for fucks sake..........when are any of these athletes going to learn that on social media every pro athlete is bait for some version of “oh I’ll get this guy” if they are outspoken in any way. Just stay the hell away from social media. My god.

Artemi should of stuck to posting pics of his dog imo. Speaking out against Putin so vocally especially while he still had/has family over there wasn't very smart. Inevitably it was going to lead to trouble or worse for him/them. Well trouble arrived in this article even only if temporarily which would be the best case scenario now. As pointed out here you have the most popular russian player in the game here firmly secured to Putin's balls so it's not like the Russian players in the NHL are all going to rally behind him. Those players have too much to risk, this isn't a low stakes game with Putin and his regime who plays for keeps.

Now if this were to be a true story than they should cut ties with him entirely. He absolutely put himself in a tough spot here and I'm not sure what he thought he could accomplish. At the very very minimum now it's going to cost him some games away from the team while he fears for his family which has got to be freightening.

Artemi should of stuck to posting pics of his dog imo. Speaking out against Putin so vocally especially while he still had/has family over there wasn't very smart. Inevitably it was going to lead to trouble or worse for him/them. Well trouble arrived in this article even only if temporarily which would be the best case scenario now. As pointed out here you have the most popular russian player in the game here firmly secured to Putin's balls so it's not like the Russian players in the NHL are all going to rally behind him. Those players have too much to risk, this isn't a low stakes game with Putin and his regime who plays for keeps.

 

Now if this were to be a true story than they should cut ties with him entirely. He absolutely put himself in a tough spot here and I'm not sure what he thought he could accomplish. At the very very minimum now it's going to cost him some games away from the team while he fears for his family which has got to be freightening.

I mean, Putin is a brutal, corrupt and murderous dictator. if nobody important speaks up about him nothing will change.

Sometimes things are bigger than sports.

I mean, Putin is a brutal, corrupt and murderous dictator. if nobody important speaks up about him nothing will change.

 

Sometimes things are bigger than sports.

This. It's easy to tell these people with massive platforms, who can inspire courage in others, that they should simply stay silent. But this is exactly the mentality that leads to never-ending autocracy.

I mean, Putin is a brutal, corrupt and murderous dictator. if nobody important speaks up about him nothing will change.

 

Sometimes things are bigger than sports.

How about putting your family at risk while you're on the other side of the globe, worth it? I guess if I believed there was any chance whatsoever of his actions on instagram having a positive impact on removing the murderous dictator I might feel differently. Now i guess if he heads home and continues to publically speak out and rally against Putin then I would say in his case it's bigger than sports for sure.

Artemi should of stuck to posting pics of his dog imo. Speaking out against Putin so vocally especially while he still had/has family over there wasn't very smart. Inevitably it was going to lead to trouble or worse for him/them. Well trouble arrived in this article even only if temporarily which would be the best case scenario now. As pointed out here you have the most popular russian player in the game here firmly secured to Putin's balls so it's not like the Russian players in the NHL are all going to rally behind him. Those players have too much to risk, this isn't a low stakes game with Putin and his regime who plays for keeps.

 

Now if this were to be a true story than they should cut ties with him entirely. He absolutely put himself in a tough spot here and I'm not sure what he thought he could accomplish. At the very very minimum now it's going to cost him some games away from the team while he fears for his family which has got to be freightening.

That's my concern as well. Let's assume this whole abuse allegation is proven to be a false scam, is it really going to end there? History has shown that the Kremlin will not stop at anything, and this hot water he's found himself in could manifest itself in different ways and affect his life for years to come. Putin doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.

I mean, Putin is a brutal, corrupt and murderous dictator. if nobody important speaks up about him nothing will change.

 

Sometimes things are bigger than sports.

I agree with the sentiment, but it's short-sighted. There's a time and a place to do it, and it certainly wasn't now. He put his family at severe risk here. It was a poor decision.

I have to agree that social is probably not the best platform and might have put people in danger.

What would have a bigger impact is using his wallet to fund anti-Putin action. Probably easier to hide, too.

It'll be interesting how this plays out. Hopefully the cancel culture doesn't get a hold of him and run with this stuff claiming abuse. He already had a claim of an insensitive "racist" comment in Russia so any attention will dig up his past. Not good at all.

I was thinking to myself that the SOP, racial slur accusation would soon follow

I have to agree that social is probably not the best platform and might have put people in danger.

 

What would have a bigger impact is using his wallet to fund anti-Putin action. Probably easier to hide, too.

This. That's all I was trying to say.

Watching the Michael Kay show he just read a statement supposedly from the NHL saying they were fully supportive of Panarin and the Rangers. I can't find it anywhere so who knows, all I see is they retweeted the Rangers statement from this morning.

And if this turns out to be true about his past.....? Then what?

hello Matthew Beniers & Shane Wright.

I have to agree that social is probably not the best platform and might have put people in danger.

 

What would have a bigger impact is using his wallet to fund anti-Putin action. Probably easier to hide, too.

I mean, yes, but you need both. Social is the most consistent, ever-present messaging vehicle. It can inspire on-the-ground mobilization and grassroots uprising. You also flat out need it to combat an autocracy as deeply entrenched as Russia's is, because they have state television and control traditional media methods.

I didn't know Ovie was tight with the dictator. What a piece of crap. I suspect this situation will create some real divisions among Russian hockey players.

The Rangers did the right thing in speaking out, and I don't care if it means the Russian Hockey Federation finding a way to keep Kratsov there.

I didn't know Ovie was tight with the dictator. What a piece of crap. I suspect this situation will create some real divisions among Russian hockey players.

 

The Rangers did the right thing in speaking out, and I don't care if it means the Russian Hockey Federation finding a way to keep Kratsov there.

If this creates a rift between the Rangers and the KHL, that's not the end of the world so long as we can get Kravtsov over.

Might have to ring up some of those 80s Red Wings scouts that smuggled Petr Klima across the Iron Curtain in the back of a Yugo.

And bluntly - yeah, this is 100% the right thing to do. The evidence is rapidly mounting - a lot of KHL reporters doing the due diligence here - that Panarin's being retaliated against for speaking up on behalf of the opposition. It's ten kinds of fucked up, and I feel awful for him to have to deal with being set up like this.