Krikunov Loses Residence Permit: Border Guard Explained That Hockey Also Has Rules

Russian hockey coach Oleg Krikunov experienced a surprise bigger than when someone at Liepāja's Rose Square offers to sell you a real 'Rolex' for two euros. Turns out Latvia cancelled his residence permit, and the coach received this news from a border guard who spoke Russian better than Krikunov himself understood the situation.

Krikunov complained to TASS journalists that he had gone to Moscow for a bank statement and learned the surprise at the border. 'The border guard, an old Latvian, told me that my permit had been cancelled for three days already,' the coach recounts. Apparently he thought that in life, just like in hockey, you can ignore the rules and hope the referee won't notice anything.

Local hockey experts comment: 'Well, Krikunov was a good coach, but it seems he didn't read the fine print about residence permits not being like a gym membership – you can't use it whenever you feel like it.' Some pensioner from Rose Square philosophically adds: 'I once thought my driver's license was eternal too, but it turned out that also has an expiration date.'

Riga's 'Dinamo' once withdrew from the KHL after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but Krikunov apparently hoped this matter wouldn't affect him personally. As they'd say in Liepāja: 'Thinking and doing – those are two different things, but living in Latvia without a permit – that's a third.'