President of Belarus bloodied after taking stick to face in hockey game

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko was playing in a recreational hockey game on Saturday and got hit by an opposing high stick.

That player must have seen his life flash before his eyes as he committed the infraction.

Unfortunately for the defender that whacked one of Vladimir Putin’s closest allies, he was whisked away and off the ice, unable to finish the game. Lukashenko was checked on by medical staff, and given a significantly large bandage over his chin. According to the official media at the event, the player apologized and will not face any off-ice consequences.

As the Russia-Ukraine crisis carries on, it seems the Belarusian leader just wanted to play a little pick-up hockey to distract himself. And he has a trend of hitting the ice during some uncertain times as he laced up his skates last November as Belarus was facing international sanctions from the European Union over a migrant crisis on their border.

In a similar move, Russian president Putin is notorious for playing in recreational hockey games, and sometimes scores as many as seven goals at once. Lukashenko came to Putin's defence amid criticisms from overseas media outlets questioning the health and wellbeing of the Russian leader when he initially invaded Ukraine in March.

"The West, and you, should get this stupidity, this fiction out of your heads," Lukashenko said in an interview with a Japanese television channel, Reuters reported. "Putin is absolutely fit, he's in better shape than ever ... This is a completely sane, healthy person, physically healthy – he's an athlete.”

Maybe Lukashenko has not heard of the Streisand effect.

The first and only president of Belarus has been in power since 1994 and recently voiced his desire to be included in any negotiations to potentially resolve the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

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