Ivan Fedotov, a goaltending prospect for the Philadelphia Flyers, is currently sequestered at a remote military base in northern Russia. Fedotov’s agent, J.P. Barry, broke the news to the Associated Press on Tuesday.
In February, reports out of Russia surfaced that Fedotov had been picked up by law enforcement outside a hockey rink and taken to a military enlistment center. A local Russian news site reported that Fedotov was suspected of evading compulsory military service required by all Russian men amid the country’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Fedotov’s lawyer, Alexey Ponomarev, denied that Fedotov evaded military service.
After his detainment, Fedotov had been taken to a military hospital with alleged stress-induced gastritis.
“We have a draft in line with the law, so any emotional commentaries would be utterly inappropriate,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday when pressed about Fedotov’s case. “There are certain reasons for deferments and various ways of undergoing military service for athletes.”
High-level athletes can be granted a special status that allows them to compete while fulfilling military obligations. And Fedotov, 25, would seem to fall under that umbrella as one of the top international goaltenders; in February, he won the silver medal for the Russian Olympic Committee as the starting goalie at the Beijing Olympics.
A seventh-round pick by Philadelphia in 2015, Fedotov signed with the Flyers in May, obtaining eligibility because he did not have an existing contract in Russia.
“We’re aware of the reports and are investigating the situation,” Flyers’ president of hockey operations Chuck Fletcher said in a statement. “We have no further comment at this time.”
