New York Rangers forward Artemi Parin posted a picture on Instagram on Thursday in support of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was arrested on Sunday, a few months after he was poisoned.
Panarin, a native Russian, posts a novel with a caption of “Freedom for the novel” with a picture of his wife and their two children.
Click here for more sports coverage on FoxNews.com
Navalny, an anti-corruption campaigner and one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s best-known critics, was arrested on Sunday as he returned to Russia from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from a nerve-agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin.
ESPN The report said Paneri declined to comment further on the post by a Rangers spokesman.
This is not the first time the Rangers’ alternate captain has spoken out against Putin. In a 2019 interview, he criticized the Russian president, saying he “does not understand now what is right and what is wrong.”
Click here to get the Fox News app
“Psychologically, it’s not easy for them to judge the situation calmly,” Panari told Sports Illustrated at the time. “He has a lot of people who influence his decisions. But if everyone around you for 20 years says what a great person you are and how great a job you are doing, you will never see your mistakes. “
Parin’s post comes just days before a planned protest against Navalni’s detention.
The Associated Press contributes to this report.
