Philadelphia Flyers goalkeeper Ivan Fedotov, who was reportedly picked up by law enforcement in Russia last week before a planned move to the United States, is now at a remote military base in the United States. northern Russia, his agent said Tuesday.
The agent, JP Barry, spoke to The Associated Press amid speculation about Fedotov’s welfare. The situation has raised new concerns about whether Russian players will be willing or able to join the National Hockey League teams drafting them this week while the war in Ukraine continues.
Fedotov, 25, is considered one of the best goalkeepers in the world outside the NHL, and the Flyers expected him to compete for a spot on his roster next season. He won the silver medal as a Russian starting goalkeeper at the Beijing Olympics in February and led CSKA Moscow to the Gagarin Cup as KHL champions.
It was a seventh-round selection of the Flyers in 2015, but has since played in Russia, with CSKA retaining their rights. The NHL and KHL do not have a transfer deal for the players and Fedotov was able to sign with Philadelphia in May just because he did not have an existing contract in Russia for next season.
The CSKA, whose name translates as “Army Central Sports Club,” was founded as a Soviet army hockey team in 1946 and still has traditional ties to the army.
The first sign that something had gone wrong for Fedotov was Friday. Russian media said he was picked up by law enforcement off a hockey rink in his hometown of St. Petersburg, where he had been filming a documentary with a television crew, and taken to a center. of military enlistment. Local news site Fontanka reported that he was suspected of evading compulsory military service to Russian men.
Alexei Ponomaryov, a lawyer representing Fedotov, told Russian news agency RIA Novosti on Saturday that Fedotov had been taken to a military hospital with apparent stress-induced gastritis. Ponomaryov said he and Fedotov’s relatives had not been able to visit them.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has not commented on Fedotov’s location. The Russian newspaper Sport Express published on Monday what it said were photographs showing Fedotov at a military base in Severodvinsk, a naval city with shipyards on the north coast of Russia, although there have been conflicting reports about where exactly he is. .
“We have a draft in accordance with the law, so any emotional comment would be totally inappropriate,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday when asked about Fedotov’s case. “There are certain reasons for postponements and various ways of doing military service for athletes.”
Russia aimed to recruit more than 130,000 men for a year of military service this spring. The law allows for a 21-month alternative civilian service in facilities such as hospitals for those who oppose military service, but applications can often be ignored. In theory, Russian men can be recruited between the ages of 18 and 27, although some never serve.
Russians often seek to avoid or delay the call with medical or educational exemptions, and athletes are no different. Some organize to enroll in universities in years-long distance learning programs while continuing their athletic careers.
The Army also has special units for elite athletes who can continue to compete while serving. The defense ministry boasted of numerous athletes with military ranks competing in the recent Olympics in sports ranging from judo to skiing.
NHL and Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher has said the team is up to date and is investigating. Last week, Fletcher said he expected Fedotov to compete for a spot on the roster next season.
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