"Served Putin's propaganda": sports legend and friend of Ukraine made a frank confession

Legendary hockey goalkeeper Dominik Hašek has admitted that he played along with Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin's propaganda, ignoring Russia's aggression. The Nagano 98 Olympic champion noted that his eyes were opened to the true face of the aggressor country after the annexation of Crimea.

Hašek said this in an interview with Seznam Zpravy. Explaining his performance for Spartak Moscow at the end of his career, the two-time Stanley Cup winner said that in those years he did not understand where Putin's Russia was really heading in its imperial frenzy.

"In those years, Dominik Hašek was not educated enough to conclude where Russia was heading. Of course, to some extent, we served Putin's propaganda. Of course, if I had been smarter, if I had been more educated, if our politicians had explained it to us and set certain rules... If I had been smarter then, I would have condemned Russia. This happened to me only in 2014 after the annexation of Crimea," Hašek said.

Earlier, Hašek visited Kharkiv and Kyiv and recorded a new video message to Ukrainians, wishing them to "drive away Russian sh*t". He also put Russian Vyacheslav Fetisov in his place, demanding that the Czech return all the money he had earned at Spartak to Russia. 

As OBOZREVATEL previously reported, two-time USSR hockey champion Gennadiy Kurdin insulted Dominik Hašek for his support of Ukraine and criticism of Russia and the Putin regime.

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