American Hockey Player Brennan Menell became RUSSIAN 🏒🇷🇺 | Citizenship, girlfriend, and Sanctions

Brennan Menell is an American ice hockey player who has received his Russian citizenship. He has a professional contract with HC Dynamo Moscow, and plays as a defenseman in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).

Brennan was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and had a stint with the Minnesota Wild. In 2022, he came to Russia for the first time, and in 2023, he became a Russian citizen.

"I want to get my family out here to show them Russia," he says. "I think Moscow is probably one of the top cities in the world!"

Brennan and our crew took a walk around Moscow, we visited 'Vkusno i Tochka' and 'Stars Coffee' (Russian replacements for McDonald's and Starbucks), and were guests at Brennan’s apartment in Moscow. We talked about sanctions, customs and traditions, patriotism, Russian women, Brennan’s girlfriend, traditional food, music, people in general, his teammates, the best and worst things about Russia, the differences between KHL and NHL, and of course the elephant in the room, the differences between Russia and the U.S.

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00:00 Meet Brennan Menell
01:27 "Russia was a mystery to me"
02:53 Minnesota Wild to Dynamo Moscow
04:01 Brennan’s apartment in Moscow
05:05 Russian citizenship: "It’s signed by Putin"
06:43 Brennan’s family's attitude towards Russia
07:44 First time in Russia
08:25 Russian Vkusno i Tochka VS McDonald's
08:50 Russian Stars Coffee VS Starbucks
09:53 Sanctions: the best part
10:18 Sanctions: the worst part
10:39 What I like about Moscow
11:18 The start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict
12:00 People, customs & stereotypes
14:00 Being American in the Russian ice hockey League
14:49 About the Canadians
15:33 What do teammates think about Brennan?
16:35 Learning Russian... swear words
17:56 "I don’t like traditional Russian food"
20:04 Russian patriotism
21:26 The differences between KHL & NHL
22:27 My Girlfriend & Russian women
23:43 Russian music I do like
24:40 Future plans