Three countries opposed the admission of Russian national hockey teams

The hockey federations of Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic still do not support the return of the Russian national teams to international tournaments. This was reported on June 9 by the SVT TV channel.

"In the current situation, we consider Russia's participation to be completely unthinkable," said Anders Larsson, chairman of the Swedish Hockey Association.

He drew attention to the fact that the regulations of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) do not provide mechanisms for the suspension of national teams on most grounds. According to him, the exceptions are cases related to ensuring the safety of competitions, Sport-Express added.

A similar position was taken by the ice hockey organizations of Finland and the Czech Republic, which also called for maintaining the current restrictions on Russian national teams. However, representatives of both federations did not answer the question of what steps could be taken if the international federation reconsidered its decision and allowed the return of Russian teams to the tournaments.

Cold question: when will Russia be allowed to participate in winter sports

The results of the elections in the international federations will show how close the return of the flag and anthem is.

On June 9, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko added that juniors from the Russian Federation have already received the right to compete under the national flag in 24 Olympic sports. In particular, we are talking about tournaments in fencing, equestrian sports, weightlifting, volleyball, baseball and softball, ski mountaineering, curling, judo, wrestling, swimming, synchronized swimming, diving, water polo, as well as sports and rhythmic gymnastics.