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Russian politician: Varlamov arrest is ‘an effort to weaken our national team’

Semyon Varlamov

Goalie Semyon Varlamov #1 of the Colorado Avalanche prepares to face the Nashville Predators at Pepsi Center on October 4, 2013 in Denver, Colorado. The Avalanche defeated the Predators 3-1. (October 3, 2013 - Source: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images North America)

From NBC OlympicTalk:

A senior Russian politician says Colorado Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov‘s arrest over domestic violence charges is motivated by the U.S. attempting to weaken Russia’s hockey team for the Sochi 2014 Olympics.

“I’m confident of Semyon’s innocence,” State Duma deputy Igor Ananskikh said, according to R-Sport. “I think it is sports and political move, as Varlamov is a candidate for the Russian national team. The main goal is to suspend him from training and games so that he loses practice and misses the Olympics.”

Per Voice of Russia, Ananskikh went on to call the situation “really strange, given that the Sochi Olympics will take place soon and Varlamov is a candidate to become part of our national hockey team which we do count on. What about presumption of innocence? It’s not normal at all. Varlamov will fall out of the training process which will have an impact on his readiness before the Olympics in Sochi. The first thing that comes to my mind is that it is an effort to weaken our national team.”

Funny, the first thing that comes to most people’s minds is empathy for the alleged victim, not a conspiracy theory connecting international hockey with the Denver Police Department.

Related: ‘No crime was committed,’ says Varlamov’s father