Russia will not withdraw its hockey teams from international tournaments. This was said by the Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation, Mikhail Dagetyarev, Vesti reports. He also noted that the expectation of this from Moscow is "the apotheosis of hysteria".
The minister emphasized that teams that boycott games with the Russian national team will face technical defeat, and countries that create obstacles to its participation will lose the right to host tournaments.
"The statements by the Swedes that playing with the Russian national team will cause them psychological trauma are simply idiotic. Such statements only show that the Scandinavian countries that joined them, the Baltics, and now Canada are simply being marginalized in world sports."
He added that Moscow will ask the IOC to take separate control of the situation with Canada, which does not want to include Russians in the World Youth Championship, and with Germany, which declares this at the upcoming World Adult Championship.