Russians choose not to publish interview with hockey player Dominik Hašek, who noted signs of fascism in Russia

Alona Mazurenko — Thursday, 4 August 2022, 23:49 

The famous Czech hockey player, two-time winner of the Stanley Cup and Olympic champion Dominik Hašek, who once played for Spartak Moscow, gave an interview to Russian media, but this interview was never published because Hašek condemned Russia's attack on Ukraine and spoke about signs of fascism in the Russian Federation.

Source: radio.cz

Quote from Hašek: "First let's talk about what fascism is. Among its main features are militarism, a strong leader at the helm of the state, nationalism, i.e. the superiority of one's nation over others and a dislike of foreigners.

It is a fact that the Russian Federation spends the most or almost the most of any country in the world on armaments in proportion to the number of inhabitants and its GDP.

It is also a fact that the Russian Federation has long been led by a personality who is almost above the law, who defines the laws, who influences the state and not just the state media.

And the fact that the Russian Federation is headed by a person who often prevents people from gathering and publicly criticising him and many other things is also true. And I also often hear nationalism, that is, words that make you feel a certain superiority over the Ukrainian nation from the political and media representatives of your country. This means that your country's policies radiate many forms of fascism."

Details: Hašek has been reported as being against the Russian invasion since the first day of the war and as supporting Ukraine.

He also criticises the Czech government and calls on the Czech government to issue a law "banning Czech citizens from working in a hostile country that has launched a military attack on our ally, is killing tens of thousands of people there and is threatening us all with nuclear weapons".

He said he gave an interview to Russian media, but did not have much faith that the Russian media would publish it.

So he wrote his answers in two languages - Czech and Russian - and published the text on the Czech website iSport.cz.

He also supported the decision to ban Russian athletes from international competitions. Hašek stated that Russians are collectively responsible for the war and killings in Ukraine and only they can influence the authorities they have elected.

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