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≡ RUSSIA ≡
The chance for Russia’s famed ice hockey teams to appear at the Olympic Winter Games in Milan Cortina in 2026 took a serious hit on Tuesday. From the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) announcement:
“[T]he IIHF Council believes it is not yet safe to reintegrate the Russian and Belarusian National and Club Teams to its championships for the 2025-2026 season. As the current security conditions do not allow the necessary requirements for the organization of tournaments guaranteeing the safety of all, the IIHF must maintain the current status quo until further notice.
“The IIHF Council will continue to monitor the situation, with the latest date to determine if it is safe to reincorporate Russia and Belarus for the 2026/2027 Championship season in May 2026 at the IIHF Council meeting ahead of the IIHF Annual Congress.”
After several other International Federations had loosened the restraints on Russian and Belarusian teams in terms of competing as neutrals (swimming), or under a federation’s flag (judo, wrestling), or specifically for Olympic qualifying (skating), hopes were high in Russia for ice hockey.
But the IIHF has slammed the door for now, recognizing that the March election of a new President of the International Olympic Committee could change things for the better … or worse.
Pavel Bure, a special representative for the Russian Ice Hockey Federation and a 12-season NHL star, told the Russian news agency TASS that the question regarding Milan Cortina 2026 has not been decided:
“I will note that the decision on the Russian national team participating in the 2026 Olympics in Italy will be made by the International Olympic Committee.”
He added:
“One of the arguments of the IIHF not to allow our team was the safety of the participants. In our opinion, this argument is not strong enough. There are more than 50 Russians playing in the NHL. Russian swimmers, chess players, and representatives of other sports participate in international competitions, and no incidents occur there. One of our proposals was to finance additional security for the Russian team, just so that hockey fans around the world could once again see one of the strongest teams on the planet in action.”
The Russian federation said in a statement:
“The Russian Ice Hockey Federation will have the right to challenge the IIHF decision after the 2025 [IIHF] World Championship is over. The International Ice Hockey Federation said it may review its ban if the military conflict in Ukraine ends.”
Two-time Olympic gold medalist and Hockey Hall of Famer, Vyacheslav Fetisov, now a member of the Russian State Duma told TASS:
“I think we shouldn’t delude ourselves. Sue who, why? I think that in the current situation we live in, we shouldn’t count on handouts or drool over yet another decision. They are simply mocking us, we should have realized that. By and large, it’s a disgrace.”
Russia Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said continuing efforts will be made:
“As for the team [in 2026], we continue and will continue our contacts with the IOC. We will defend the interests of our athletes and our Olympic team. We will have to spend additional effort and time to resolve this problem.”
The 2025 Worlds will be in Sweden (Stockholm) and Denmark (Herning) from 9-25 May, after the IOC election has taken place in March, but before the new chief will take over on 24 June.
The head of the Belarusian federation, Alexander Bogdanovich, told TASS:
“Our work in the interests of Belarusian hockey does not stop, we are still open to constructive dialogue with the International Ice Hockey Federation,
“On the eve of the IIHF Council meeting, we set out in writing our position on all the questions received from them, and provided a number of indisputable arguments in favor of our teams returning to participation in the IIHF competition program. However, as we see, for this leadership and this IIHF Council, argumentation is of no importance.”
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