Protagonists of the gesture are the members of the bandy teams of Ska Neftyanik, Dinamo Moscow, Vodnik and Kuzbas: the “Z” distinguishes Russian military vehicles
Propaganda comes to sports. They took the field to play what could have been one of the many matches of the national bandy championship, a version of hockey practiced mainly in Northern Europe (played on a larger field, with 11 players and a ball instead of the puck), but on the ice the players of some Russian teams first decided to arrange themselves to form in a shape to form a “Z”, which is the letter symbolizing the Russian tanks that have invaded and are setting fire to Ukraine . The “Z” invokes the motto “Za pobedu” (which in Italian translates as “For the victory”).
Teams
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The protagonist teams of the episode are Ska Neftyanik, Dinamo Moscow, Vodnik and Kuzbas: the first two also have ties for several years with the political regimes that first ruled the Soviet Union and now Russia. An episode that comes a week after that of the Russian gymnast Ivan Kuliak, who during the World Cup awards ceremony in Doha, got on the podium showing the same “Z”.
Condemnation
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The Swedish newspaper “Aftonbladet”, however, specified that not all the athletes who took to the field demonstrated and formed the Z. Simon Jansson, player of Kuzbas, immediately distanced himself from the gesture, then told in the locker room how shocked he was for the happened. At the end of March in the Russian city of Syktyvkar the bandy world championships were also supposed to take place, first for women and then for men, then postponed for boycotts by the other national teams, Sweden, Finland and obviously Ukraine in the first place. Numerous reactions from the world of sports and beyond, many now ask for the suspension for life for all the athletes who took part in the initiative. Some are also expecting measures from the International Bandy Federation.
March 14, 2022 (change March 14, 2022 | 18:21)
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