(Vice) If the assault allegation against New York Rangers star Artemi Panarin was aimed at kicking up a public storm against the politically outspoken 29-year-old winger on the home front—where public criticism of the Kremlin is discouraged—it appears to have failed. […]
According to Richard Arnold, a political science professor at Muskingum University in Ohio, public figures have long since learned to self-censor themselves lest they fall afoul of powerful forces.
“There’s nothing definite—that they’re going to be punished for saying something—but there’s always the chance,” says Arnold, who has studied the intersection of sports and politics in the former Soviet country. “People don’t want to stick their head out above the parapet.” […]
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