Latvian Minister of Education and Science Anita Muižniece demands that Dinamo Riga leave KHL.
Ukraine after the crisis escalated in the Helsinki Jokers supporters demand on Tuesday, the club’s immediate withdrawal from the Russian-centric KHL league. The same position has begun to strengthen in Latvia.
Read more: Consequence of the crisis in Ukraine: The Jokers’ Support Association demands the team to withdraw from KHL immediately – “Protect follows”
The pride of Latvia’s puck and the country’s most important sports team, Dinamo Riga, have been involved in KHL since its inception, ie soon for 15 years.
Latvian Minister of Education and Science Anita Muižniece wrote on Twitter on Twitter that this period should be coming to an end soon. The Minister of Education and Science is also responsible for sports in Latvia.
“Hopefully the talk that sports (and also music) are supposedly separate from politics will end,” Muižniece began.
“In particular, I want to emphasize Dinamo Riga and the fact that this participation in the ‘Russian Open Championship Series’ must end.”
Jokers responded to the demand of its supporters to have binding agreements with the series as well as liability as an employer.
One hundred percent of the jokers are owned by the backing company, of which Jari Kurri owns 60 per cent, and 40 per cent belongs to Norilsk Nickel Harjavalta oy, which has a Russian background. In practice, the main background of the Jokers is the main owner of the Nornickel Group Vladimir Potanin.
“I think [Jokerien pelaaminen KHL:ssä] is very important. If you want to see it politically, it’s the only Western team in the league, ”Potanin said To HS in September 2020.
Read more: This is how the Jokerit commented on their supporters’ demand to leave KHL: “We have binding agreements in the series”
Dinamo Riga also has a large Russian company in the background, which makes exiting KHL more than difficult.
Chairman of the gas company Itera Latvija Juris Savickis also chairs Dinamo Riga. Savlesis-owned Glesum Investments also owns the team’s home arena, Arena Riga.
The main owner of Itera Latvija is the Russian Areti International Group, whose chairman Igor Makarovin property financial magazine Forbes has evaluated USD 2.1 billion, or about EUR 1.85 billion.
Editor of the state-funded radio company Latvijas Radio Mārtiņš Kļavenieks wrote on Twitter that their sports editorial had interviewed Dinamo chairman Savickis on Tuesday. After the speech had turned to the situation in Ukraine and the demand of the Jokers’ supporters, the call had been interrupted immediately.
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