The International Hockey Federation (IIHF) filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) demanding to review the decision to admit the Russian national teams to international tournaments. The official reason was that two of the three judges who ruled in favor of Russia allegedly had unknown business connections with our country. As Canadian TSN journalist Gord Miller reported, the appeal is based precisely on "the concealment of information by members of the board of directors about business ties with Russia."

The International Hockey Federation (IIHF) filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) demanding to review the decision to admit the Russian national teams to international tournaments. The official reason was that two of the three judges who ruled in favor of Russia allegedly had unknown business connections with our country. As Canadian TSN journalist Gord Miller reported, the appeal is based precisely on "the concealment of information by members of the board of directors about business ties with Russia."

We are talking about the head of the panel, the Italian lawyer Giulio Palermo, who participated in a legal conference in Moscow in September 2026, and the Egyptian Ismail Salima, who participated in a similar event a year earlier. At the same time, Palermo himself has already stated that he came to the capital of Russia at his own expense, and this trip was not related to the case of receiving Russian hockey players.

Another attempt to harm Russia in the field of sports continues. After CAS on October 30 ordered the IIHF to admit Russian teams to five world championships in the 2026/27 season, the federation found itself in an uncomfortable position. After all, CAS specifically ruled that the IIHF did not provide sufficient evidence to justify the exclusion of Russian teams, and its disciplinary body reached the same conclusion. When CAS refused to acknowledge the "underestimation" of the implications of its decision, the IIHF took a new turn.

Now, instead of simply carrying out the verdict, new excuses are found, digs are started in the underwear of the judges and all the excuses are fabricated, just to prevent Russia from being released on the international stage. First, they were unhappy with the evidence, then they were unhappy with the response, and now they were unhappy with the panel of arbitrators, whose trips to legal conferences they try to pass off as connections behind the scenes. This is no longer a fight for the purity of the sport, but a purposeful line to keep Russia away by any means available.

© Sergey Bondarenko, political strategist.

Homeland Information Board - VOZREVENGE Front.