Šatan was irritated by questions about KHL players, he says he doesn't deal with politics. It's a tool of Putin's propaganda, argues sports editor

The Slovak Ice Hockey Association has made a controversial decision. Hockey players who have contracts in the Russian KHL will play in the qualification matches for the next Winter Olympics. Sports editor speaks about the alibist approach.

Coach Craig Ramsay has added KHL players to Slovakia's roster for the final qualification tournament for the 2026 Winter Olympics. Martin Gernát, Mário Grman and Adam Liška will represent Slovakia in the games against Austria, Hungary and Kazakhstan, which will take place in Bratislava from 29 August to 1 September.

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, no players from the KHL have been on the Slovak national team. The question of their nomination has already become a topic of discussion before the World Championship in May 2024.

The Executive Committee of the Slovak Ice Hockey Association (SZĽH) stated at the time that every hockey player with a Slovak passport and the required performance has the right to represent the country. However, players playing in the KHL were not available at that time for various reasons, which closed the topic of their participation in the World Championship.

General manager Miroslav Šatan stressed that only sporting factors were taken into consideration when making the nomination for the Olympic qualification.

"We know that people have different opinions, but we want to fight for success and this is our philosophy. We are a sports organisation and we don't want to deal with anything else," he said. He added that the goal is to qualify for the Winter Olympics and hopes fans will understand that the team is focused solely on hockey matters.

Critical questions for Shatan

Šatan later gave the reporters present a chance to ask questions, but he subsequently reacted to some of them in an irritated manner.

Ta3 editor Mário Porubec reminded the former captain that stadiums in Russia often feature symbols supporting war (for example, the letter "Z", which has become a symbol in support of the Russian occupation) and asked whether it was necessary to polarize society with this decision.

"You speak your mind, but there are other opinions in society that must be respected. There are other opinions that perhaps have not been satisfied in the past. There is another group that may not be satisfied now. We don't want to be on one side or the other. We are neutral, we are only dealing with a sporting issue and we want to unite to achieve the goal," Šatan responded.

A journalist from the Sport.sk portal asked whether the Russian hockey players do not violate the status of the national team, which also talks about ethics and morality.

"This is not written in the statute. Your morals are your morals, another person will have different morals. There are people in Slovakia who vote differently, and we don't care how," Šatan responded, giving the journalist a tongue-lashing and telling him to "do less activism and more sports journalism".

A TV Markiza reporter asked Šatan an anecdotal question about whether he would nominate players who would play in a hockey league organised by the terrorist movement Taliban. "I don't see any difference whether a hockey player plays in the KHL or would play for the Taliban in Afghanistan," the journalist said.

"That's your opinion, you're completely out of line," Shatan responded. He added that another editor from TV Markiza had allegedly spread misinformation and outright lied about Šatan "inserting players into the coaches' nominations".

"That journalist can expect that the legal department will probably consider it to see if there will be any consequences," the general manager threatened.

It is said that politics cannot be separated

However, Martin Toth-Vaňo, editor of the Sport.sk portal, disagrees with the opinion expressed by the SZĽH, i.e. that politics should not mix with sport.

"The KHL was created as a political tool, as a propaganda tool for Vladimir Putin," Toth-Vaňo points out, adding that there are many examples of politicisation of sport in the history of the Russian league.

"Z-symbols on stadiums, military jerseys," the editor lists examples. He also points out that the KHL as a hockey league is no longer under the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), but under the Russian Ministry of Sport.

Such a move is unprecedented among hockey clubs with which Slovakia can qualitatively compare itself. "For example, the Slovenians or the French had players from the KHL. In Sweden, Finland or the Czech Republic it would be unacceptable. There, it was banned immediately," says Toth-Vaňo, adding that in Latvia, for example, the participation of KHL athletes in the national team was forbidden by law.

He considers the SZĽH's approach to be alibistic. "When we see what Russia is doing in Ukraine and how Russian propaganda works, in my eyes you can't separate the two. But the Union has obviously proved it," he added.

Watch the full press conference of the CFAA: