MOSCOW, February 27 Dynamo Riga left the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) in connection with the situation in Ukraine, according to the official website of the club. Earlier, the Finnish “Jokerit” decided to suspend participation in the KHL for the same reason. “A decision was made to withdraw from the KHL, which expresses a clear position of the club’s management,” said Juris Savickis, chairman of the supervisory board of the Latvian club. “In the context of such a military and humanitarian crisis, we we see no opportunity for cooperation with the Continental Hockey League. «Riga residents have played in all seasons of the KHL (since 2008) and reached the playoffs five times, reached the conference semi-finals twice. This season, the team did not reach the playoffs, finishing last in the Western Conference. On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he had decided on a special military operation of the Russian Federation to demilitarize Ukraine. In a televised address to the Russians, he said that the circumstances «require decisive and immediate action from us, the people's republics of Donbass turned to Russia with a request for help.» On February 21, Putin signed decrees recognizing the sovereignty of the LPR and the DPR.
