"Who is this? "I don't understand your questions": Russian club president staged a real circus by humiliating IIHF president

CSKA Moscow president Igor Esmanovich had nothing better to do than play crazy when asked about his decision to ignore the suspension of the team's goalkeeper Ivan Fedotov. The official noted that he was not interested in the opinion of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), and that he allegedly did not know its president, Luke Tardif, at all.

Esmanovich said this in an interview with Championat.com. The head of the army club added that he did not care about the decision of the international body that banned Fedotov from the ice until the end of this year. The representative of the aggressor country stressed that he was only interested in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) regulations.

"There are regulations. You sign a contract, register with the KHL, go out and play. All of this has been observed. Is Tardif promising to open a disciplinary case against CSKA if we violate the disqualification decision? Who is he? I'm not familiar with him. Who is this person? Why do I need him? I have a Russian hockey player who served in the army. He has a contract. I don't understand your questions. And who is Tardif... I don't even know who he is. Who is he to me? Is he the president of the IIHF? Well, ask him your questions, because I don't need him. I have regulations," Yesmanovic said.

As a reminder, Russian national team goalkeeper Ivan Fedotov was suspended until the end of the year for signing a contract with CSKA Moscow while having an existing agreement with Philadelphia, with whom the Russian national team goalkeeper had agreed to transfer in May 2022. The following month, the hockey player was detained and forcibly drafted into the Russian army. The day before, CSKA announced that it would not comply with the IIHF's decision, adding the player to the roster and announcing his debut on 1 September.

As OBOZREVATEL previously reported, two-time Olympic champion Vyacheslav Fetisov threw a real tantrum over the disqualification of Ivan Fedotov, calling for the IIHF's decision to be "shoved in one place". And coach Gennady Kurdin complained that the IIHF does not consider Russians to be human beings. For his part, Alexander Kozhevnikov said that Russia would "start to fold" if it left the IIHF.

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