This is the moment a team of ice hockey-playing Russian spies brawled with their opposition – and then had the rivals arrested when they lost.
A team-wide battle erupted between a team known as ‘Tough Guy’ and a team of players from the Federal Security Service (FSB).
Fights are common in ice hockey, but after this match the FSB, which is the main successor agency to the Soviet Union’s KGB, reportedly ordered the arrest of the opposition players.
Five of the players were detained immediately and charged with ‘hooliganism’, which carries a maximum prison sentence of seven years, according to a Telegram channel.
The decision has proved controversial in Russia and it has split sports fans and supporters of the security services over whether the hockey players should have been detained.
The video shows a team-wide battle erupted between a team known as ‘Tough Guy’ and a team of players from the Federal Security Service (FSB)
Fights are common in ice hockey, but after this match the FSB, which is the main successor agency to the Soviet Union’s KGB, reportedly ordered the arrest of the opposition players
In the fight, which took place in March in far east Russia, all 12 players were involved in punching one another and grappling on the ice
In the fight, which took place in March in far east Russia, all 12 players were involved in punching one another and grappling on the ice.
As an FSB attacker and the opposition defender wrestled each other to the ground, fights between individuals broke out as other Tough Guy players started throwing punches at the opposition team.
The ice rink in which the match was played was full of spectators who watched the Tough Guys seem to get the better of the FSB team.
During the chaotic video, the referees were completely overwhelmed and were unable to break up the fights, even when they were taken to the ground.
In professional ice hockey, fights are permitted but are stopped by referees whenever a player lands on the ice for safety.
Throughout the video players are seen punching each other in the head despite their opponents being on the ground.
The players also did not take off their gloves before the fight, as would be standard practice in professional ice hockey matches.
Baza, a Telegram channel with close connections to the Russian security services, shared the video and added the Tough Guys team was also disqualified from the tournament.
Throughout the video players are seen punching each other in the head despite their opponents being on the ground
Before rising to power, Putin served as an officer in the KGB, the predecessor to the FSB. Pictured: In uniform circa 1980
Vladimir Putin was appointed as director of the FSB by Russian president Boris Yeltsin in 1998
Two more Tough Guy players were detained last week and ordered to surrender their passports after they were considered a ‘flight risk’ by a judge ahead of their trial.
Newsbox24, a Russian news Telegram channel, said the arrests were absurd after a ‘standard’ ice hockey brawl.
It said: ‘If you go into the rink against an FSB or police team, should you also prepare to be imprisoned in case you win?’.
A comment under the Newsbox24 post said the FSB team had been ‘humiliated’ and had acted like cowards by allegedly ordering their arrest.
However Yulia Chepalova, a three-time Olympic cross-country ski champion, said that the Tough Guy players should be ashamed for brawling with the FSB, but that criminal prosecutions were taking retribution too far.
The FSB continues to wield considerable power across Russia and occupies the former headquarters of the KGB on Lubyanka Square in downtown Moscow.
Vladimir Putin was appointed as director of the organisation by Russian president Boris Yeltsin in 1998.
As president, Putin increased the FSB’s powers to include countering foreign intelligence operations, fighting organized crime, and suppressing Chechen separatists.
When former KGB officer Vladimir Putin became Russian president in late 1999, he swiftly installed his fellow ex-KGB comrades into all areas of Russian life.
The former KGB officers installed by Putin – known as the ‘siloviki’ (strongmen) – continue to control many key government ministries, law enforcement agencies and state-owned companies.
