The former president of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), Rene Fasel, has obtained Russian citizenship. According to Russia's Unified State Registry of Individual Entrepreneurs, the 73-year-old Swiss became a Russian citizen no later than January 28. He also acquired last week 54 percent of shares in major Russian apple-producing firm Alma Holding, co-owned by Kremlin-linked tycoon Gennady Timchenko. Fasel led the IIHF from 1994 to 2021. In March 2022, he opposed the IIHF's move to halt the Russian and Belarusian ice hockey federations' activities over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.
Ex-President Of International Ice Hockey Federation Gets Russian Passport
IIHF President Rene Fasel (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin attend the opening ceremony of the Night Hockey League gala match at the Bolshoi Ice Dome in Sochi, Russia, in May 2021.