Estonian national soccer players meet with Russia's selection coach. In the EU country, this is not welcomed because of the Russian war in Ukraine. Captain Konstantin Vassiljev plays down the incident, but the national team's fan club is outraged.
In Estonia, a private meeting of several former and current Estonian football internationals with Russia national team coach Valeri Karpin has caused a stir. The fan club of the national team of the Baltic EU country condemned the behavior of the players, who were shown in a social media picture socializing with Karpin, as unacceptable. As Estonian citizens and representatives of the national team, they have a moral duty to stand up for the same values that the Estonian state and most of Europe stand for, the fan club said in a statement.
Alongside some Estonian veterans, the picture also features current national team members such as captain Konstantin Vassiljev, striker Sergei Zenjov and assistant coach Andres Oper. "1 group, 10 friends, 100 memories, 1000 games... a New Year's Eve celebration to remember," wrote ex-national player Andrei Stepanov on Instagram next to the recording he published.
"I don't have much more to say. The picture is there," Vassiljev commented on questions about the photo in the Estonian media. "There was a meeting. A normal dinner. Football stories. It's hard to give an adequate answer to that." Association President Aivar Pohlak defended the players. Referring to the association's official rejection of Russia's war against Ukraine, he said that one of human rights is to meet people who think differently. A spokesman for Vassiljev's and Zenjov's club FK Flora Tallinn made a similar argument.
Estonian commentators, on the other hand, stressed that it would be foolish to assume that the meeting would not be exploited by Russian propaganda. Karpin has been the coach of the Russian national team since 2021, which has been internationally isolated and banned from all competitions because of the war. The 53-year-old was born during Soviet times in the Estonian city of Narva, right on the border with Russia.
