The NHL denied Izvestia accreditation

The National Hockey League (NHL) refuses to allow Russian journalists to attend games. Izvestia, which was not allowed to cover the 2024-2025 NHL regular season games after submitting an official request for accreditation, made sure of this.

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"Unfortunately, we are unable to honor your media authorization request at this time in accordance with league policy as outlined in the February 2022 application," Dave Keoghan, senior manager of event public relations, responded to Izvestia.

Remarkably, the statement does not say a word about banning Russian journalists from covering NHL sporting events. After a clarifying question about the possibility of still receiving accreditation to the games, given that there are no official bans on journalistic activities of Russians, he said that it is impossible to do anything.

Vladimir Solovyov, chairman of the Russian Union of Journalists, commented on the West's approach to the Russian press.

"It seems that the principle "sports out of politics" was not particularly relevant, since all the years of the once ideological confrontation between the Soviet Union and the countries of the West and now even the Olympics have been turned into political competitions. At present, even more so. "Unfortunately, those who run the International Olympic Committee and other major sports organizations are subject to political decisions," Solovyov told Izvestia.

Read more in Izvestia's exclusive piece:

Coward won't let in hockey: NHL denies Russian journalists accreditation