Artemi Panarin Comes Out Against Vladimir Putin

American politics can be messy, but Russian politics can be deadly. An assassination attempt was made on Alexi Navalny, Russia's opposition leader in August of 2020. He traveled to Berlin to be treated after being poisoned and was jailed this week after his return to Russia. Artemi Panarin of the New York Rangers has shown his support for Navalny in a recent social media post.

President Vladimir Putin has denied any involvement in the assassination attempt of Navalny, but who has more motivation to end his life than the Kremlin? Navalny has been imprisoned this week upon his arrival to Russia. Governments and politicians around the world are demanding his immediate release, citing a violation of human rights and an attempt to silence the voice of the people. There are scheduled protests in cities all across Russia this Saturday.

Many Russian hockey players such as Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Malkin have posed for pictures with President Putin. It doesn't appear that Panarin will be welcomed to do so any time soon. In fact, it may be wise for him not to return to Russia after showing his support for Navalny and defacto condemnation of Putin. This may be difficult considering Putin has set himself up to remain President until 2036.

This is pretty significant: New York Rangers superstar forward Artemi Panarin showing support for jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny ahead of planned Saturday protests all over Russia. Hashtags this Instagram post “Freedom for Navalny” https://t.co/9rwcP87oKK pic.twitter.com/8zZyjEjOeO
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) January 21, 2021