Claes Friberg

Den bästa, mest djuplodande diskussionen hittills om svensk hockey (säger en del om konkurrensen) på @sporthuset med @Tjomme18 & @wikegard. ✅ CAS, Ryssland, Sv. ishockeyförbundet ✅ NHL-avtalet & dess effekter ✅ Tränar vi för att bli bäst eller för NHL-draften? ✅ Väljer importer bort defensiva SHL?

Så säger en fegis – det sista vi behöver gp.se/3cde71bd-2ede-545f-93f…

The Mayor of the Finnish city of Turku said today that they will withdraw as hosts of the 2028 World Juniors if Russia is allowed in. Arbitration courts can find all the loopholes in IIHF regulations they want, but at the end of the day it's all about people and human values. yle.fi/a/7-10108006

🏒 My third posting regarding CAS’ decision to uphold the appeal from the Russian Ice Hockey Federation thus allowing Russia back to IIHF championships. As stated previously, this was made possible due to IIHF’s refusal, inability, anxiety, unwillingness or indecisiveness to properly adjust their regulations whereby the world governing body could justify the banning of Russia. This left a legal loophole which Russia exploited. So the key question - why didn’t the IIHF formulate the proper reason for keeping Russia and instead citing “safety and security” concerns of participants? One reason is that the IIHF were not willing to use the war criteria, as that could have exposed them to questions about USA’s military actions in Iran and Venezuela. So instead of identifying the differences between Russia’s and the US’ military actions - and be clear about Russia’s unparalleled brutality and cruelty - the IIHF leadership were buying time each season as the Russian ban was prolonged and at the same time hoping that the war in Ukraine would soon end so they would get away with “safety and security.” These are the facts that sets Russia’s war apart from everything else in modern time: ✅ An unprovoked full-scale aggression of a peaceful and democratic nation which poses no threat to Russia or to the region. ✅ Intentional targeting of civilian population and infrastructure, such as energy facilities to even more increase civilian suffering. ✅ Documented massacres of civilians in Bucha, Mariupol, Izium, Irpin and Hostomel. ✅ Having forcibly abducted some 20,000 Ukrainian children to Russia and assigned them Russian citizenship and to undergo “Russification”. ✅ Russian leaders and state propagandists having declared their intent to annihilate Ukraine as nation and to erase Ukrainian identity, language and culture. ✅ The estimated cost of Russia’s destruction of Ukraine is reaching $600 billion - and counting. Ukraine has suffered between 500,000 and 625,000 casualties (killed, wounded, missing). Russian military casualties are well over one million. ✅ Targeting Ukrainian sports infrastructure, including ice rinks, at a cost of $200 million in damage. This is not on top of Russia’s crimes but it’s relevant in this discussion. What also sets Russia apart in this context is the intimate connection between Putin and the Kremlin on one side and the Russian ice hockey federation and the KHL on the other. At least seven members of the federation are staunch Putin backers and war supporters, several of them are sanctioned by the EU or the US or by both. Furthermore, close Putin ally Gennady Timchenko is the chairman of the KHL. State owned oil company Rosneft and gas giant Gazprom, that pay for the war in Ukraine, are both heavily involved in Russian and KHL hockey. Finally, Russian superstar Alexander Ovechkin is openly loyal and supportive of Putin and his party. Can you imagine the public uproar and media reaction if he were to play for Russia in the upcoming world championship in Germany? Once the above vital reasons are presented, the IIHF could have added safety and security concerns and significant challenges to the integrity of their championships. All the reasons should have been summarized and declared by the IIHF to the world and to CAS and accordingly formulated in their regulations. First and foremost, to keep Russia out for as long as this goes on and to deflect any “whataboutisms” about the USA, Iran or Venezuela. 🥅 But for this it takes genuine will and a moral stance to present its case properly.