Georgy Belousov
Former Vityaz striker Georgy Belousov commented on the accusations of beating a girl against Artemy Panarin, a forward of the New York Rangers National Hockey League (NHL) club. His words are quoted by Izvestia.
Belousov said that he did not remember the incident, although he was with the team in Riga at that moment. “I haven’t heard anything about this and Artemiy never asked about it, because he didn’t even think that he could do something like that. Probably, the whole team would know about this story, if it were real, ”said the player.
He noticed that he was surprised at the appearance of the accusations and did not understand why stirring up Panarin's past. “I'm very disappointed. I will not hide: Artemy is my friend. And I would like to wish him only patience and endurance, ”added the hockey player.
On February 24, another former teammate of Panarin, Mikhail Anisin, also spoke about the situation. He said that in Riga the athletes really went to a bar and they had a skirmish with a group of girls, but Panarin did not beat anyone. According to Anisin, the maximum that a hockey player could do is to slightly push one of the visitors.
On February 22, the NHL backed the striker. Representatives of the league said that they are following the development of events and will begin an investigation only when evidence of the charges appears.
On February 20, Panarin's former coach Andrei Nazarov, in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda, accused the player of beating a girl, which allegedly happened in Riga in 2011. Latvian journalist Aivis Kalnins denied Nazarov's words by contacting the hotel administration, where, according to the coach, the incident occurred.
