In the middle of last summer, the most unexpected news thundered in the news reports: in St. Petersburg, the well-known Russian hockey player, winner of the Gagarin Cup, Ivan Fedotov, was detained by the military enlistment office in St. Petersburg. Over the next two months, dozens of insiders appeared about the causes and further development of the situation of the ex-CSKA goalkeeper, but in fact the situation still does not change – the athlete is serving in Severodvinsk.

At the same time, it was very difficult to believe that Fedotov would really just serve the allotted year in the ranks of the Russian army without another sudden turn of events.

Only a few expected a 180-degree turn: Ivan could be demobilized this fall!

“There are no legal rules for this”

On July 1, a day after the expiration of Fedotov’s contract with CSKA, the 26-year-old hockey player was detained by the military commissariat on suspicion of evading military service, and a few days later the athlete was sent to the Severodvinsk training center of the Russian Navy. At the same time, in May of this year, Fedotov signed a one-year contract with the Philadelphia Flyers NHL club.

After the arrest, Ivan refused to comment on the situation, but later it became known that he filed a lawsuit against the St. Petersburg draft board, pointing out the illegality of its decision, since he was registered in Moscow, but lives in the Leningrad Region. Representatives of the military registration and enlistment office tritely violated the draft procedure.

Ivan Fedotov / Photo: © KHL / Yury Kuzmin

At the same time, two months after the hockey player was detained, it might already seem that Ivan would indeed continue to serve, and the hype would slowly subside … However, on September 7, unexpected insiders appeared on the Web, according to which Fedotov signed a three-year contract with CSKA, but at the same time the goalkeeper would be exchanged for another KHL club. The president of the army club, Igor Esmantovich, almost immediately refuted this information:

– There are no legal norms and legal acts for CSKA to sign a contract with a serviceman Ivan Fedotov today. And reporters who spread rumors and PR so that Ivan Fedotov is in the information field should be ashamed when throwing in this information, – quotes Esmantovich “Championship”.

Fedotov can commission

Indeed, from a legal point of view, the premature demobilization of a citizen already called up for military service is practically impossible. One of the only options to return a soldier to a “civilian” is the procedure for dismissal for health reasons. By the way, at the beginning of July, some media reported that immediately after the arrest, due to stress, Fedotov’s gastritis worsened.

However, chronic diseases should have been identified during a medical examination at the military registration and enlistment office, they are commissioned during the service more often due to injuries or diseases that are incompatible with further service. Given the status of the parties concerned, it is still possible to find a reason for Fedotov’s dismissal from the army, but it is absolutely unclear how this will look in the case of a professional athlete who regularly underwent medical examinations in hockey clubs.

At the same time, it will be very difficult to imagine what kind of justification they will be able to find in the Military Prosecutor’s Office if Fedotov is really dismissed from service in the near future. So far, information about the hockey player’s upcoming “demobilization” looks as implausible as possible, but given the special status of this situation, any more or less on-duty explanation will not surprise anyone.