A Russian ice hockey star who has just signed to play in the US' NHL has instead been sent to the Arctic to start military training.
Ivan Fedotov, 25, was earlier seen on video being held by armed police in St Petersburg as he was conscripted into Vladimir Putin's army.
He, was later rushed to an army enlistment office and accused of seeking to dodge the draft.
The draconian response of the Russian authorities was seen as revenge on him leaving CSKA - a club with close ties to the Russian army - and signing to play in the US for the Philadelphia Flyers.
He has been sent to the closed Arctic naval port Severomorsk, the key base of Putin’s Northern Fleet.
There had been speculation he would be sent to fight against Ukraine, but officially draftees are not permitted to take part in the Kremlin’s ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine, although many have done so.
His move to Severomorsk was reported by leading Russian journalist Alexey Venediktov.
It was confirmed by the star’s lawyer Alexei Ponomarev who said he was sent to the Arctic outpost on Saturday night following his detention on Friday.
The move came despite Fedotov lodging a complaint about his one-year conscription with a Russian court.
Fedotov “did not realise that [the USSR] is back”, reported journalist Dmitry Navosha.
At some point the player was taken to hospital after complaining of being unwell in the wake of the move to draft him.
But this did not stop him being sent to Severomorsk in Murmansk region, above the Arctic Circle.
His mother was seen being pushed away from an ambulance carrying the player while wife, Nadezhda Korzhneva, 26, an architecture graduate, has not commented on his detention and forced move into the military.
The man in charge of Russian ice hockey is Roman Rotenberg, son of Putin’s close crony, oligarch Boris Rotenberg.
Both men are sanctioned by the US over their links to Putin, as is Roman’s uncle Arkady Rotenberg.
A source told Fontanka the military prosecutor's office had believed "there are sufficient grounds to consider Fedotov an army evader”.
Despite being born in Finland and raised in Russia, the fact he played for CSKA meant he was considered a military man, said one report.
Technically, all Russian males up to the age of 28 can be called up, though few sons of the elite serve in the army, and fewer still have been sent to fight in Ukraine.
Fedotov ís in the Russian national team. If he refuses to serve he can face jail.
Despite rules stipulating conscripts will not be sent to Ukraine dozens were on board the Moskva cruiser which was sunk in the Black Sea in April.
