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NHL condemns Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, suspends all business relationships with country

By Ian Oland

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February 28, 2022 4:05 pm

The National Hockey League rebuked Russia’s invasion of democratic Ukraine on Monday. The league is suspending all business with its Russian partners moving forward.

The NHL also announced that it is pausing its Russian language website, NHL.RU, and is ending any consideration of playing games in Russia.

“The National Hockey League condemns Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and urges a peaceful resolution as quickly as possible,” the statement said. “Effective immediately, we are suspending our relationships with our business partners in Russia and we are pausing our Russian language social and digital media sites. In addition, we are discontinuing any consideration of Russia as a location for any future competitions involving the NHL.

“We also remain concerned about the well-being of the players from Russia, who play in the NHL on behalf of their NHL Clubs, and not on behalf of Russia. We understand they and their families are being placed in an extremely difficult position.”

Previously, there were reports that the KHL and NHL were negotiating to have the Capitals and Lightning play exhibition games in Russia later in 2022. Now that appears off.

The NHL’s release comes as hockey agent Dan Milstein voiced his concerns about “real threats” to Russian NHL players in-person and on social media. Milstein is asking the NHL to provide additional security.

The Capitals have four Russians on their team including Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Dmitry Orlov, and Ilya Samsonov. Orlov missed the morning skate on Monday due to personal reasons.

Headline photo: Ian Oland/RMNB

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