Russia junior hockey world championship dispute Canada visa, Digi Mart USA News (Russia): Russia’s sports minister, Mikhail Degtjarev, has attacked nations that have said they will refuse to play Russia at the world championships, including Norway, Sweden and Finland. He claimed that President Vladimir Putin is directly involved in the matter.
Degtjarev said in an interview with the television channel Zvezda, as reported by The Sports Examiner and the news agency Tass, that Russia has a “Plan B” to still play the junior world championship in ice hockey in Canada in December. He declined to reveal what it is, saying it would benefit Russia and harm Canada, which he warned could lose the right to host international competitions.
The dispute followed a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that Russia must be readmitted to the world championships. That ruling has put strong pressure on the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).
Canada has maintained that it will deny Russian players visas for the junior championship, a position Degtjarev said he does not believe will succeed.
Degtjarev said Russia had asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to hold a board meeting to take control of the situation, comparing it to the case of Israel’s exclusion from the 2025 world championship in Indonesia, where Israeli participation ended after visas were refused. He said the Russian federation had also turned to the IIHF disciplinary body over the Finnish and Swedish teams.
Degtjarev also criticized Swedish claims that playing against Russia causes psychological strain for Swedish players, calling such arguments absurd and noting that more than 200 countries take part in international sport. He said the situation currently means Russia will be able to compete in all world championships in the coming year, and that in the junior championship Norway, as the lowest-ranked nation, would be moved down from the elite level.
