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Ivan Fedotov was part of the Russian athletes who managed to win Olympic silver in ice hockey in 2022
Photo: IMAGO/Alexey Filippov / IMAGO/SNA
The conscripted ice hockey star Ivan Fedotow wants to sue against his conscription to Russia's Northern Fleet.
"The documents were sent on Friday, we are waiting for the court to accept them and then we will move towards the trial," Alexei Ponomaryov, the 25-year-old's lawyer, said on Wednesday, according to the Russian state news agency Ria Novosti.
According to him, Fedotov is already at the naval base in Severomorsk, in northern Russia, near Murmansk.
Fedotov won the Gagarin Cup with CSKA Moscow last season and was named the best goalkeeper in the Russian ice hockey league KHL.
From the next season, however, he should appear for the Philadelphia Flyers from the North American league NHL.
On Friday, however, he was arrested by military police in St. Petersburg for alleged conscientious objection and taken to a military commissariat.
The first photos should show Fedotov in his new unit
After several hours of interrogation, the athlete became ill and had to be hospitalized.
He was then drafted into the Russian armed forces.
His lawyer, Ponomarev, called the draft commission's decision illegal.
On Tuesday, the first photos of Fedotov in his new unit appeared on the Telegram channel "Mash".
According to this, he was transferred to the sports company of the Northern Fleet and is to keep the goal for the club "Avantgarde", which belongs to the military base, for the coming year.
Military sources had previously said that Fedotov would be transferred to the polar island of Novaya Zemlya, which is also known as the former Soviet atomic bomb test site.
Fedotov's case is also influenced by the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.
In Russia at the moment, many conscripts are afraid of being drafted and sent to the front.
It is uncertain whether this will also affect other well-known athletes in the future.
Relations between the NHL and Russia have been strained since the war began.
Russian players are still allowed to play in North America, but the league has severed their economic ties to Russia.
The new NHL season begins in early October.
jan/dpa