Russia and Belarus will continue to be banned from international ice hockey competitions for the 2025-26 season, the IIHF announced on Tuesday citing security concerns.
In a statement, the IIHF said it “believes it is not yet safe to reintegrate” both countries, which have not been able to participate in world hockey events since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The decision could have major implications for the 2026 Olympics in Milan, although the IOC will have final say over if Russia can participate and under what conditions. The IOC has scheduled elections to decide its next president in March 2025, and this is one of the biggest issues on the new docket.
The Olympic men’s tournament in Milan is set to include NHL players for the first time in 12 years.
The Russian men have won Olympic gold nine times and won a silver medal at the 2022 Games in Beijing, just weeks before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began.
The Belarus men’s team did not participate in the final round of Olympic qualifying last summer; Belarus has never had a women’s team ranked in the top pool to be eligible to compete in an Olympics.
The ban covers all IIHF events such as world championships and world juniors championships.
“As the current security conditions do not allow the necessary requirements for the organization of tournaments guaranteeing the safety of all, the IIHF must maintain the current status quo until further notice,” the IIHF said in a statement.
Despite the ban, Russia has the No. 2 men’s team per IIHF World Rankings, only following Canada. The Russian women are ranked sixth.
More than 50 Russian players have appeared in an NHL game this season, including some of the league’s biggest stars such as Alex Ovechkin, Nikita Kucherov, Kirill Kaprizov and Igor Shesterkin. The NHL has been monitoring security concerns against Russian players since the invasion of Ukraine, but sources told ESPN the NHL has yet to hear of credible threats for this season.
Speaking at the world juniors championships in January, IIHF president Luc Tardif explained his federation’s stance. We want them back as soon as possible,” he said. “It will mean the war will be over….[Russia] is missed for any competition. But let them come too early, that’s not going to be good.”
Several NHL executives told ESPN they were hoping Russia would be brought back for the world juniors championships as it’s an important scouting tournament. NHL teams have had extremely limited opportunities to watch Russian players live since 2022, with most of the scouting conducted on tape. While that has affected the draft stock of top Russian prospects, many teams have still selected Russians with high first-round picks including the Philadelphia Flyers drafting Matvei Michkov at No. 7 in 2023 and the Montreal Canadiens picking Ivan Demidov at No. 5 in 2024.
The IIHF said it will make a ruling for the 2026-27 season by May 2026.
