The intent of the attack charges against Artemi Panarin without a piece of evidence or the corroboration of witnesses by his former KHL coach Andrei Nazarov in an interview with a Russian tabloid seems to have been to tarnish the reputation of the Rangers winger and promote both a personal agenda. as well as politics, not the pursuit of justice.
Panarin “unequivocally and vehemently” denied the accusation that he punched an 18-year-old girl to the floor in a hotel bar following a game on December 11, 2011, as Nazarov claimed. The former NHL winger also claimed that Latvian officials were bought for $ 40,000 in euros after a criminal case was opened.
Panarin denied it in a Rangers statement describing the story as “fabricated.”
“This is clearly an intimidation tactic used against him to be open to recent political events,” the statement continued. “Artemi is obviously shaken and worried and will take some time away from the team. The rangers fully support Artemi and will work with him to identify the source of these baseless allegations. ”
Panarin was an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime, last demonstrated by his support on social media for opposition leader Alexi Navalny, who was poisoned and is now serving a 32-month sentence for alleged probation violations in early February.
A well-positioned source with knowledge of Russia’s political dynamics told The Post that the fake attack on the 29-year-old from Korniko was not a direct government crackdown on Panarin. rather of Nazarov who became a villain.
Nazarov, who has been extremely critical of Panarin’s opposition to Putin, is believed to have tried to favor the Russian Ice Hockey Federation and its first vice president, Roman Rotenberg, whose family has close ties to Putin.
This does not amount to the fact that a woman has filed charges of assault against a man 10 years after the fact. These allegations should be taken seriously and investigated independently. This is different. There is no plaintiff. This is not a “He said, she said.” Instead, it appears to be “a third party he supported with an agenda, without evidence.”
Indeed, Latvian journalist Aivis Kalnins reported that a hotel spokesman said there had been no such incident. In addition, no player from the Vityaz club who had lost 2-0 that night to Dynamo backed up Nazarov’s claims.
Remember this: at the time of the alleged assault, Panarin was considered a 20-year-old factory escape that had been passed entirely by the NHL in two years. He was certainly not a professional athlete. As such, there would have been little reason to engage in bribery and create cover-ups.
Here we are again, caught in the whirlwind of politics that interacts with sport. Here is Panarin, who almost always seems to be the happiest man on Earth, taking a break from the game for an indefinite period of time after taking this punch in the gut.
If Panarin was an innocent before and is far too clever and perceptive to be labeled naive, then he certainly isn’t now. The prospect of retaliation and revenge by various means has always existed, even if this attack on him seems to have been launched by a private citizen with an agenda and not by a coordinated Kremlin-led effort.
However, Panarin pays. So are the Rangers, who lose their most dynamic, important, valuable and best player for an indefinite period of time. To suggest that Blueshirts can’t afford to lose the number 10, they qualify as the winner of the award for underestimation.
A finalist in the Hart Trophy a year ago, who led the club in the first half of 2019-20, Panarin lifted his blouses in each of the recent victories over Philadelphia and Washington after being eliminated for a pair with an unidentified injury. He is the straw that mixes the drink and just mixes it well.
He is also universally popular in the room as he has been in the Chicago and Columbus rooms, where he shared his first four NHL seasons playing for the Blackhawks and Blue Jackets before signing his seven-year free agent agreement with $ 81.5 million. with Rangers on July 1, 2019.
His popularity, his personality, his brand stature, do not absolve him of accusations of iniquity. It is obvious. But something is very misleading in all this. Does not meet the odor test.
An opponent apparently motivated by a personal and political agenda made incendiary accusations without the support of evidence against Panarin. By the way, such things do not happen only in Russia.