The two CAS judges who allowed the Russian Federation to return to international hockey visited Moscow before the verdict.
Two of the three Italian referees, Giulio Palermo and Ismail Salim, who chaired the CAS panel in the Russia v IIHF case, spoke at conferences in Moscow shortly before their appointments. Palermo visited it in September, and Salim - in May 2025.
Less than a month after Palermo's visit to Moscow, he was appointed to the Russian Ice Hockey Federation's case against the IIHF. And on October 30, the CAS panel (with Palermo and Salim on the panel) unanimously upheld the Russian Federation's appeal against the IIHF, opening the way for the Russians to the 2027 World Cup in Germany.
Read more about the media investigation into the trip of CAS judges to Moscow and the reaction of the Court of Arbitration for Sport itself here.