Aivis Kalniņš: Hotel spokesperson as well as multiple other sources have told me that no such incident has occurred. One person who I spoke to answered with “No, absolutely not. If you look at what Nazarov said and do a little research you’d instantly see through his lies”

Obviously this statement isn't conclusive or anything, but pretty much any knowledge of the situation strongly indicates the whole thing is a smear and an intimidation tactic. This is Putin telling Panarin to shut up or else, and reminding other Russian athletes what can happen if they follow Panarin's lead.

Honestly this is all a bit amateurish from Putin. Not the hit piece, but just the story itself. You couldn’t find anything else to silence or scare Panarin? This is really the best Putin has? Saying he beat up an 18 year old girl, who would’ve been the same age as Panarin at the time, in a country where Putin himself made hitting a woman legal? And by using Nazarov who even before this story broke I’ve heard bad things about. Didn’t the Chiclets crew bring up Nazarov being psychotic before?

I hope that spokesperson stays away from third story windows.

What a wild day

It should be noted, since it's in every thread that this is the most unreliable reporter there is in all of Europe. We need to do better

talk shit about putin and russia free pass to get away with anything. oh thats just russian propaganda i actually hate cocaine and cheating on my wife putin may track you down and kill you but you'll have a lot of fun beforehand