Degtyarev called for depriving countries of the right to hold tournaments for violating CAS decisions

Countries that obstruct the enforcement of the decisions of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) should be deprived of the right to hold international competitions. This was announced on November 13 by Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev.

"This is the only court in the world where you can solve sports issues. And we solve them there. We will continue to defend the interests of our athletes in the legal field," the minister stressed in an interview with the Vesti news agency.

According to Degtyarev, one of the possible punishments for states that do not comply with CAS decisions may be the suspension of the activities of their national Olympic committees by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). First of all, in his opinion, such measures should be considered in relation to Canada. The minister also allowed the application of similar sanctions to Poland and Germany.

Degtyarev called the suspension of national sports federations, which are required to ensure the entry of participants in international competitions into their countries, another measure. The head of the Ministry of Sports stressed the need for a tough approach to violators.

In particular, the minister proposed to deprive Finland of the right to host the 2027/2028 Ice Hockey World Youth Championship, Norway of the ski racing competition stages, and the Czech Republic of the upcoming junior women's Ice Hockey World Championship. In addition, Degtyarev called for the cancellation of international hockey tournaments in Canada or their transfer to other countries.

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Degtyarev indicated on November 5 that the Russian side would fight the boycott of the national team and visa refusals. In his opinion, the refusal of rivals to enter the games with the Russians casts doubt on the usefulness of the championship titles won without such competition. The minister also called the decisions taken on the basis of nationality discrimination, and above all criticized Canada for these initiatives.

On October 30, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ordered the International Ice Hockey Federation to allow Russian national teams to participate in international competitions. At the same time, Canada, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Austria and Switzerland announced their intention to boycott the games against the participation of the Russian national team in the World Cup in 2027.