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Finnish President cancels ice hockey with Putin – Kremlin spokesman reacts

2022-07-04T02:52:55.309Z


Finnish President cancels ice hockey with Putin – Kremlin spokesman reacts Created: 07/04/2022, 04:50 By: Felix Durach The Kremlin has reacted in a curious way to an affront by the Finnish president against Vladimir Putin. The head of state has enough ice hockey players on his team. Moscow – Russia's aggression in the Ukraine war is also having a significant impact on relations between Moscow


Finnish President cancels ice hockey with Putin – Kremlin spokesman reacts

Created: 07/04/2022, 04:50

By: Felix Durach

The Kremlin has reacted in a curious way to an affront by the Finnish president against Vladimir Putin.

The head of state has enough ice hockey players on his team.

Moscow – Russia's aggression in the Ukraine war is also having a significant impact on relations between Moscow and neighboring Finland.

The admission procedure to NATO that Finland is aiming for could represent a turning point.

Not least because of the approximately 1,300-kilometer border between the two countries, Finland has long rejected membership of the military alliance.

However, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, security concerns grew in Helsinki.

Kremlin Counters Finland's President - "Putin Doesn't Lack Members On His Team"

But also on a personal level, relations between the two countries seem to be cooling off.

Finland's head of state Sauli Niinistö was asked in a recent interview about a 2012 ice hockey friendly game in which the 73-year-old took part with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

When asked whether he would go on the ice with Putin again after the latest developments in Russia, Niinistö then said no.

Finland's President Sauli Niinisto (l) together with Vladimir Putin during an ice hockey friendly game in 2012. © Alexei Nikolsky/dpa

An affront that the Kremlin apparently could not leave uncommented.

On Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov referred directly to the Finnish leader.

"Now he's saying he won't play anymore," the Kremlin spokesman told the Interfax news agency, adding: "Well, Putin has no shortage of members on his team."

Ukraine war: Ice hockey fan Putin becomes personal after G7 gossip

Putin is known for his passion for winter sports.

His words, which he addressed to French President Emmanuel Macron at the end of a telephone call in February, recently caused a stir: "Not to hide anything from you, I wanted to go play ice hockey now and I'll speak to you from the sports hall before training begins going on," said the Kremlin chief at the time.

This was recently confirmed by a recording made available by the Élysée Palace and shown in a television documentary.

Four days after the phone call, Russian troops marched into Ukraine.

However, Peskov's statements are not the first rather curious reaction to an affront to the Russian president.

During the G7 summit in Elmau, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau joked about the pictures showing Putin shirtless riding a horse.

Putin shortly afterwards replied that the shirtless G7 participants would have been a "disgusting sight".

(fd with dpa)

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-07-04

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