Lukashenka Refuses To Express Condolences To Relatives Of His Team's Hockey Player

Was Kaltsou really that close to him?

UDF noticed that after the tragic death of hockey player and coach Kanstantsin Kaltsou in the United States, the leader of Belarus did not send condolences to his family.

Meanwhile, many media outlets noted that the hockey player played for the dictator’s team. So maybe Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s indifference can be explained by the fact that information about this fact is greatly exaggerated?

Kaltsou helped Lukashenka and his youngest son defeat him for many years

Kanstantsin Kaltsou ended his professional hockey career due to injury in the autumn of 2016. Almost immediately after this, the talented player, who played more than 100 matches in the NHL, ended up in Lukashenka’s amateur team, where they like to invite former famous players.

At the beginning of 2017, Kaltsou helped Lukashenka’s team once again win the international Christmas hockey tournament held in Minsk. The state media wrote then:

“The team, perhaps, has not assembled such a strong squad, which was joined by Kanstantsin Kaltsou, who played in the strongest clubs in the NHL and KHL and recently retired from his career.”

Since 2017, Kaltsou has constantly played for Lukashenka’s team. He was one of its best scorers and for some time shared laurels with the first vice-president of the NOC, Andrei Astashevich.

When the latter was expelled from his squad due to accusations of corruption, it was largely thanks to Kaltsou that Lukashenka and his youngest son became tournament winners.

End of 2020. After the match between Lukashenka’s team and representatives of the Brest region, Kaltsou receives a prize for the best player from the Minister of Sports

At the beginning of 2020, state media presented Kaltsou as one of the leaders of Lukashenka’s team. The hockey player gave comments praising the Christmas tournament. He stated that these competitions were “a gift for all former professionals” and that over time the tournament could turn into a world championship among hockey veterans.

In 2020, Kaltsou supported the government

Moreover, the hockey player and coach did not just play the puck with Lukashenka and his youngest son. Kaltsou supported the dictator during the protests in 2020.

In November, when the protests were still ongoing, the hockey player played for Lukashenka’s team against the Hrodna region and signed a pro-government letter from the athletes, which was created in defiance of the appeal of those athletes who spoke out against violence against civilians and violations of the law.

“We work to win in sports arenas, not in political arenas, so, in principle, I am in favor of not campaigning against athletes. I know that there is a lot of criticism towards athletes now, so I am for sports to be outside of politics,” Kaltsou explained his decision.

Next year, 2021, he expressed bewilderment as to why Minsk was deprived of hosting the World Hockey Championship.

The former head of the Belarusian Hockey Federation and coach of Lukashenka’s team, Dzmitry Baskau, reacted to Kaltsou’s death:

“Kanstantsin was one of the undisputed leaders of our team, a talented progressive coach, a bright player in the president’s team, he was always appreciated and respected by coaches and teammates... It’s hard and unfair when such people leave so early. I express my sincere condolences to Kanstantsin’s family and the entire Belarusian hockey community.”

But Lukashenka himself did not express condolences to Kaltsou’s relatives...