Ukrainian-North American advocacy organizations urge NHL to reject cooperation with Russian league

A coalition of Ukrainian-Canadian and Ukrainian-American organizations is calling on North America’s premier professional hockey ice hockey league – the NHL consisting of 32 teams – to publicly reject any cooperation with Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).

The open letter, signed by 31 organizations, including the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America Philadelphia Area Branch, and Razom for Ukraine, was issued in response to a statement from the Kremlin,.

The statement claims that U.S. President Donald Trump supports Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin’s idea of organizing exhibition hockey games between professional American and Russian players.

“Were such matches to take place, they would be an affront to millions of American and Canadian NHL fans and to people of Ukrainian descent in both countries,” the letter states. “We urge you to express prompt, public, and unequivocal opposition to this suggestion.”

The New York-based NHL previously said it was “not part of the original conversation [between Trump and Putin], and there have been no further discussions,” NBC News reports.

However, the nonprofit Razom for Ukraine said the league’s response “did not put to rest concerns and worries” raised by the Kremlin’s claims. The letter urges the NHL to take a clear and public stance against any form of cooperation with the KHL.

“As NHL and KHL players would ostensibly be playing together on the ice, Russian bombs would be raining fire on Ukraine civilians,” the New York-based organization said.

The Kremlin has long leveraged sports as a form of soft power, using it to shape its international image and influence global perceptions in a more favorable light without using force or coercion. 

“Such initiatives would forever stain your organization’s reputation, facilitate the broader reintegration of the Russian Federation into world sporting bodies, undermine the NHL’s own stated values, and alienate millions of hockey fans,” the appeal reads.

The full text of the letter is available at this link.