A decision by Helsinki pro hockey team Jokerit to go ahead with plans of kicking off a series with a match against Dinamo Minsk in Belarus on Thursday has raised eyebrows, as the eastern European country is in the midst of a political crisis and widespread protests.
A presidential election was held in Belarus on 9 August. The official vote count showed that President Alexander Lukashenko - who has been head of state since 1994 and characterised as Europe's last dictator - won his sixth term. However, many have questioned the validity of the election.
The citizen street protests began in the run-up to the vote and have continued since, growing into the largest anti-government demonstrations in the country's history - often involving bloody clashes between authorities and protestors.
The EU rejected the vote results and last week, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said the protests were due to a lack of trust in the country's election system and that the situation had started a "dangerous circle."
But on Monday, the KHL team's chair, Jari Kurri, confirmed that Jokerit would be headed to the match against Dinamo Minsk on Thursday, in Minsk, Belarus.
Kurri said that the Helsinki team tried to postpone the game to a later date but Dinamo Minsk did not agree to the request.
Match going ahead
"We have decided to go to Minsk exceptionally only on game day and leave immediately after the match. We have been in close contact with Dinamo to let them know that we will be able to play and that we will follow the series programme," Kurri said in the statement.
"We hope that Belarus will find peaceful solutions to its political situation," he added.
Earlier on Monday, the president of the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, Harri Nummela, told Yle's Radio 1 morning programme that there's not much the organisation can do about the situation
"We have no power to intervene," he said, adding that the Jokerit team was in a difficult position.
"They only have bad alternatives from which to choose. The situation in Belarus is upsetting both in terms of the unrest as well as the coronavirus situation. No one know what it is like there," Nummela said.
Nummela said the association could only offer the team recommendations if the team asked for them, noting it was up to the team to decide how to proceed.
"[If the team requested guidance], we would ask them to carefully consider their alternatives. They have to make their decisions themselves and live with them, as well as their consequences," Nummela said.