Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said that Russian hockey players should not be allowed to participate in international championships until the war against Ukraine ends. He criticized the decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to lift the ban on Russian athletes participating in competitions, Novinky.cz reports, writes UNN.
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According to Babiš, the arbitration decision was wrong, and the Czech government shares the position that Russians should not be allowed to participate.
If it was decided once that Russian hockey players have no place there, then that is how it should remain. This should not change until the war ends
Czechia may bar Russians from the World Championship
The statement came amid the possible admission of Russian female hockey players to the Women's Under-18 World Championship, scheduled to take place in January in Ostrava, Czechia.
There is no point in bringing them back now, as if we believed that the war and the killing of people in Ukraine were normal. It is not normal, so we reject such a proposal
Czech Interior Minister Lubomír Metnar also recalled that the country continues to ban the issuance of short-term visas to Russian citizens.