The IIHF called on the Russian Federation to comply with the rules after the letter from the players of the youth team

President of the International Hockey Federation (IIHF) Luc Tardif said that in order to return to international tournaments, Russia must comply with the established rules. This is how he responded to a letter sent today by former and current players of the Russian youth team, demanding to consider the issue of returning the team to the World Cup.

“Everyone seems to forget or ignore that the Fedotov case is still ongoing. Firstly, the contract is not respected, secondly, the international rules of the IIHF are not respected, and thirdly, there is disrespect for the IIHF and the sanctions of the independent disciplinary council. Regardless of the safety of our competitions, the first step to get a chance to return to the IIHF is to comply with the IIHF rules,” the head of the federation told RIA Novosti.

In 2022, Russian hockey player Ivan Fedotov, after winning the Gagarin Cup with CSKA, signed a contract with the Philadelphia Flyers. However, he was later detained at the military registration and enlistment office and sent to a military unit for military service. In the summer of 2023, the KHL registered a new contract for Ivan Fedotov with CSKA. The IIHF ruled that the hockey player did not have the right to sign a contract with CSKA, since at that time he had an agreement signed with the Philadelphia Flyers. In connection with this, the hockey player was disqualified until the end of the year.

At the end of February 2022, the national teams of Russia and Belarus were suspended from international competitions for an indefinite period due to the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine. In a letter to the IIHF, the Russian youth hockey team asked to explain the decision to remove the Russian team from the World Championship.

“We, the players of the Russian youth team, do not understand what is happening with world hockey: our team has already missed three youth world championships. In 2022, we were not allowed to finish the tournament, which was canceled due to coronavirus infection; in 2023 and 2024, Russia did not play due to security problems – this is how your organization outlined the reason for the non-admission,” says the hockey players’ appeal (quote from RBC). In the letter, the hockey players noted that in January 2024, the IIHF federation temporarily suspended the Israeli team from competitions under the auspices of the conflict with Hamas, but just six days later, Israeli athletes were allowed to take part in competitions at the World Championships in the third division in Sofia.

Anastasia Larina