Official letter to Mr. President of IIHF Luc Tardif, Mr. Director general and Council members
Dear Mr. President, dear Mr. Director general, dear Council members,
I am writing you this official letter on a very specific matter.
Although many of us know each other, I consider it appropriate to briefly introduce myself. My name is Dominik Hašek, I played ice hockey at the highest level from the age of 16 to 46 and proudly represented my country, the Czech Republic, at four Olympic Games and five World Championships. I currently still play hockey, although only at the amateur level. It is also worth mentioning that I am a long-time member of the Nomination Committee for the Czech Hockey Hall of Fame. I am also a member of the Toronto, Prague and IIHF Hall of Fame.
I am a lifelong athlete who has always put the team first. And I believe that I have been able to lead it properly from the position of goalie. But I have never been indifferent to public affairs and I know very well that there are much more important things than sport.
Since the beginning of the Russian aggressive war in Ukraine, I have been actively expressing my views in the public sphere. I fight primarily for no sports competition to be an advertisement for the Russian imperialist war, because this contributes to a greater number of lost and maimed lives.
Furthermore, I am trying with all my might to ensure that the rules are set in such a way that Russian athletes have the opportunity to return to competitions and at the same time those competitions are not an advertisement for the Russian war, as is the case in many cases. My interest is also that Russian athletes are given the chance to officially condemn the Russian war and all the crimes associated with it. So that they do not have to live the rest of their lives with the knowledge that innocent people, including their fellow citizens, died because of their participation in sports competitions.
Now I would like to move on to the fundamental reason why I decided to address you. Dmitry Medvedev, former Russian president and prime minister, close associate of current president Vladimir Putin and still one of the most influential Russian politicians, responded to my criticism of the NHL hockey league as one of the competitions that is a huge advertisement for the Russian imperialist war. He wrote the following on his official Telegram account, among other things: “We are waiting for the suicide of the crazy Czech Hašek” (https://t.me/medvedev_telegram/576). This harsh statement of his was, of course, picked up by many media outlets, not only in the Czech Republic.
I would just like to add that neither he nor any of the Russian politicians apologized for these very dangerous words, from which it follows that this person is threatening to kill me. I, the Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský, as well as other Czech experts on Russia, take these threats very seriously and consider them very dangerous. This is also due to the history of Russian terrorist acts in the European Union, including the Czech Republic (Vrbětice 2014), in which people lost their lives.
I consider it very important, and above all right, to inform you about this incident. First of all, I do not want something similar to happen to any other athlete or sports official. The second thing is that you, as IIHF officials, decide with your votes on important matters that directly concern Russian hockey players and Russian hockey officials. If these threats are received by a former athlete who has no decision-making rights, I am almost certain that many of you will find yourself under various pressures from the Russian side. And it would not surprise me if they resorted to dangerous threats, including the worst ones. That is why I am writing you this letter so that you are prepared for everything that can happen.
In conclusion, I would like to emphasize that the right or wrong decisions of the IIHF in the coming months will have a great influence on the attitude of society towards ice hockey and sport in general. And given the political situation, on the further development of Russian aggression in Ukraine.
I personally offer you and the Russian hockey players once again to help shape the rules so that individual Russian players can return to all national competitions and at the same time these competitions are not an advertisement for the Russian imperialist war and innocent people do not die because of them.
At the same time, I would like to ask you to notify the individual national hockey federations of all countries in the world with this letter. I consider it very important that all IIHF members are informed about this incident. At the same time, I consider it right that as many people as possible learn about this incident and my position on it. For this reason, I have decided to publish this official letter in a few days.
These are fundamental issues that go far beyond the world of sports. And lives are at stake.
Thank you and best regards,
Dominik Hašek
