VP upset his KHL team was sent to Kazakhstan amid violent protests and resignation of government

Players with the KHL's Metallurg Magnitogorsk were stuck at an airport in country of Kazakhstan Wednesday following violent protests and the resignation of the Kazak government. A state of emergency was declared in the country on Tuesday after protests erupted over rising energy costs. The KHL, saying it had been assured that players would be kept safe, decided to send Metallurg to the country anyway to play a game against Barys Nur-Sultan without fans in attendance. The team has since landed back in Magnitogorsk after being stuck at the airport for some time.

Meanwhile, team vice-president Sergey Laskov did not hold back when asked how things were going for the team.

"Ask the league how it's going!," he said. "On what grounds did they turn to Kozlov (KHL interim vice president of hockey operations and director of the league's competition department) who said he wouldn't postpone anything?"

"Someone is allowed to reschedule covid matches, and the basic clause states that in an emergency all matches must be cancelled. Who guaranteed a safe match to whom? And what about the psychological mood of the players?," continued Laskov.

"The league doesn't care about anything," he said.

The team includes a couple of recognizable names in former NHLers Nikolay Goldobin and Brendan Leipsic. Projected 2022 first-rounder Danila Yurov also plays for the team but it is unclear if he made the trip to Kazakhstan after just returning home from the World Juniors.

According to reports, police used tear gas and stun grenades late on Tuesday to drive hundreds of protesters out of the main square in Almaty, the former Soviet republic's biggest city, and clashes went on for hours in nearby areas.

The protests began on Sunday following the lifting of price caps on liquefied petroleum gas, a popular car fuel, a day earlier. The price more than doubled after the cap was lifted.

Source: Sport24.ru

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