РУССКИЙ
11:16 06.11.2026 •
The Russian Sports Ministry and the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) intend to submit to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) all documents regarding the boycotts planned by international federations against matches with the participation of the Russian national teams at next year’s World Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Championship, Russian Sports Minister and President of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) Mikhail Degtyarev said on Tuesday.
TASS reported earlier that the national hockey federations representing Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and the Czech Republic announced their unwillingness to play matches against the Russian national team at the World Championship following the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) regarding the admission of Russians to the competitions.
The Latvian national team will not play against the Russia team at the world championship after the Baltics nation's legislature voted against doing so.
"All of these materials will be definitely submitted to the International Olympic Committee," Degtyarev stated.
"This isn't only about those countries that are threatening and blackmailing the International Ice Hockey Federation with a boycott, but also about the countries that are set to host [international] tournaments involving Russians. Russia keeps note of them," the Russian sports chief stated.
"I am sure that the court will rule against them and they will be deprived of hosting tournaments if they continue to follow the policies of their local authorities," he added. "All these boycotts are, in fact, directed against the sport itself. These countries are depriving both their own national teams of the opportunity to compete and a chance of facing off in a head·to·head match as well as leaving their fans without a spectacle. This is simply childish," Degtyrev said.
Degtyarev slammed the steps taken by international federations as foolish.
"The world is much larger than just Scandinavia or the Baltic states. They need to realize that there are a lot of eligible nations in world sports, everyone wants to compete, everyone wants a sports festival and they are already tired of discrimination based on national grounds against Russia and Belarus," Russia’s senior sports official stated.
"This is why I would like to call on all [sports] executives to hold them responsible - Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Latvia, which has joined them - and to come to their senses and return to sports, to what Baron Pierre de Coubertin created all this for, which was the idea that sports should unite peoples. Players should compete for their countries and win on the ice rink, not in the [media] headlines," Degtyarev stated.
IIHF’s ban against Russia, Belarus
In February 2022, the IIHF suspended Russia and Belarus from participation in international competitions over the developments in Ukraine.
The Russian national ice hockey teams were also barred from the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Italy and IIHF President Luc Tardif told TASS in 2025 that the decision was made by the IOC and the IIHF had no say in this.
On July 30, the International Ice Hockey Federation announced a decision to extend Russia’s suspension from international tournaments until 2027. The IIHF stated that: "Following the IIHF Disciplinary Board Decision, the IIHF Council re-analyzed the Russian Ice Hockey Federation’s request that it be permitted to enter a Russian Team in each of the following IIHF Championships: IIHF Men’s World Championship 2027; IIHF Women’s World Championship 2027; IIHF World Junior Championship 2027; IIHF U18 Men’s World Championship 202; and IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship 2027."
In early September, the Russian Ice Hockey Federation (RHF) filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne against the IIHF decision to extend the suspension of Russian national teams.
Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
Photo: MFA
Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s answer to a media question in connection with statements by the Prime Minister of Canada.
Question: Just the other day, Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney said that his country’s government would not issue visas to Russian athletes which would prevent them from taking part in the world ice hockey championships in Edmonton and Red Deer, Canada, in late December 2026 and early January 2027. What would be your comment regarding statements by senior government officials in Canada?
Maria Zakharova: Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney has indeed made a statement to say that despite a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, CAS, which mandated the International Ice Hockey Federation to allow Russian teams to compete in the 2027 championships and participate in other international competitions, his government would still deny visas to players from the Russian junior team. Accordingly, this would make it impossible for this team to take part in the IIHF World Junior Championship 2027, which is scheduled to be held from December 26, 2026, through January 5, 2027, in Edmonton and Red Deer.
Three Canadian ministers who are involved in this matter, i.e., the ministers of foreign affairs, immigration and sport – they all supported their Prime Minister by issuing a joint statement on this issue. In it, they announced Ottawa’s intention to engage special mechanisms pertaining to national immigration law for denying entry to Russian and Belarusian athletes, as well as members of sports delegations planning to take part in hockey competitions and other international sports events on Canadian territory.
Therefore, the Mark Carney government has declared its intention to openly violate the IIHF Event Code which governs international competitions. Its Paragraph 87 sets forth an obligation for the host country to timely arrange for any necessary support related to issuing entry visas to all participating teams. In addition, Canada’s actions along these lines infringe upon the Olympic Charter, in which Paragraph 5 recognises that sports organisations must abide by the principle of political neutrality and have the “obligations of autonomy,” including from their national governments.
The decision by the Canadian government was driven by politics, and will be detrimental not only for the World Cup in this country but for international hockey in general. We must stress that Mark Carney is trying to prevent from competing in these championships a team which has the highest number of medals in junior championships with 13 gold medals, 13 silver medals, and 11 bronze medals. Will these actions make the championships more spectacular or help them attract more spectators? This seems to be a rhetorical question.
Let me also remind you that in 1972, with the Cold War at its peak, the USSR and Canada teams held the famous Summit Series, with then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau focusing on defending Canada’s independence and cultural identity in its relations with the United States. He proactively supported this series with the USSR since he believed that this would promote détente while also diversifying his country’s foreign policy ties. Even his son, Justine Trudeau, who as prime minister had little sympathy for Russia, said in an official statement marking the 50th anniversary of the 1972 Summit Series on September 28, 2022, that the game against the USSR team in 1972 stood out in Canada’s history by the way it shaped national identity since three fourth of the country’s population watched the final round’s live broadcast.
That said, it seems that Mark Carney has little, if any, interest in abiding by the sports principles or taking into consideration what ordinary hockey fans want, since they are also eager to see Russia and Canada face off against each other on ice. What makes the Prime Minister’s position even more hypocritical is that over 50 Russian hockey players currently compete in the National Hockey League, which has a huge following in Canada. Everyone knows that there are Russians in almost all Canadian NHL clubs. However, Mark Carney seems to place this servile attitude towards Ukrainian-speaking diaspora, whose ideological core has been shaped by the descendants of the Great Patriotic War-era Ukrainian Nazi criminals who fled to Canada, above the interests of the majority in Canada.
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