The return of the teams to international competitions would make the world "a little bit better," Luc Tardif has said

The head of the International Ice Hockey Federation, Luc Tardif, has said he would like Russia and Belarus to return to international competition "as soon as possible."

Since 2022, the International Olympic Committee has banned Russian and Belarusian national teams and allowed some individual athletes to compete under neutral status after passing a strict vetting process. The sanctions applied to the 2024 Paris Olympics and the current 2026 Winter Games in Milan-Cortina, Italy.

"We want as soon as possible Belarus and the Russians back. Because first, it will mean that the world will be a little bit better," Tardif told a press conference in Milan on Thursday.

The hockey boss cited the "geopolitical situation" and concern for the "security" of the athletes as the reasons for the IOC not allowing the teams from the two countries to participate. He admitted, however, that the decision to exclude Russia and Belarus may also be political.

"We try to keep the politics away from our competition, but sometimes that's not so easy," he lamented.

Russian officials have repeatedly accused Western nations of exerting pressure on sports federations to exclude Russian athletes for political reasons. President Vladimir Putin has said the IOC leadership is "flagrantly flouting the Olympic ideals they should be defending," while Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused the West of engaging in "sports aggression."

Pavel Bure, the former NHL great and special representative of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, recently argued that "without Russia, the level of the world championship has significantly decreased."

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Russia has historically dominated international ice hockey, with five IIHF World Championship golds since 1993 and an Olympic gold in 2018. The national team is part of the sport's unofficial "Big Six" alongside Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden and the US. Many Russians compete in the NHL, 65 are currently active, including Washington Capitals captain Alexander Ovechkin, who in November became the first player to score 900 NHL career goals.