I don't get why people are getting so defensive. I don't think anyone suggested the sens were racist or xenophobic.
Any argument in this thread is about drafting russians not signing or trading for them. Indeed, earlier, I specifically mentioned Volchenkov and Gonchar being liked.
What's funny is you characterizing facts as "rumours and supposition" to suit your position. It's simply a fact that we have not drafted a Russian since Bashkirov and a Russian playing in Russia since 2005.
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/teams/dr00007328.html
Again, you're moving the goal posts to suit your argument when the topic of argument is whether the Senators are willing to draft a Russian.
You're basing your belief that the sens will draft a Russian on the senators bringing guys in for workouts (could be genuine interest, or could be due dilligence or could be a smokescreen) and rumours that the sens tried to move up.
Meanwhile, here's what Bryan Murray apparently said in 2011:
http://thesportsdaily.com/the-6th-sens/bryan-murray-talks-russians/
Quite similar to:
When I said:
That was what I was talking about. That we prefer NA players over russians.
Maybe I went too far in suggesting we wouldn't draft any Russians. I'm sure if Ovy 2.0 came around and we had the first pick we'd take him, but I really believe we won't take the average guy when there's a similar canadian or american on the board.