Oligarch Roman Rotenberg did not mince his words when commenting on the International Ice Hockey Federation’s latest decision to continue fielding the national teams of Russia and Belarus.
Earlier in February, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) published its decision to extend Russia and Belarus until the 2025 World Cup competitions. The Russian Ice Hockey Federation opposed the IIHF’s policy with its own counterpart, and at the same time the oligarch acting as vice president of the federation Roman Rotenberg stated his own view on the national team collar.
– There are circumstances that we cannot influence. The International Ice Hockey Federation is currently led by Finns. And we know their current attitude towards our hockey and our country, Rotenberg told Russian news site Sport24.
Rotenberg, who is the head coach of the KHL team St. Petersburg SKA, refers to the Finnish members of the IIHF board – the association’s general secretary Matti Nurminen and to act as a member of the union’s board Heikki Hietasen. The board has a total of 15 members and its chairman is a Frenchman Luc Tardif.
– The situation is not surprising. This is politics. They fear us and don’t want to cooperate with us. They are afraid of losing to us, Rotenberg continued.
The Russian-Finnish Rotenberg declared that the international development of ice hockey is impossible without Russia.
– I am confident that everything will return to normal, and quite quickly.
Vladimir Putin Rotenberg, a member of the close circle, and his family played a significant role when the Helsinki Jokerit moved to the Eastern European hockey league, the KHL. Rotenberg is also one of the Russian owners of the Helsinki arena. The trade negotiations for the arena located in Ilmala are still ongoing.
Earlier, the NHL and its players’ association announced that the top four-nation tournament will be played in 2025 without Russia. Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland participate in the tournament, which is played a year before the Winter Olympics.
The situation of Russia and Belarus in competitions under the IIHF will be discussed next time at the earliest in March 2025. Russia and Belarus were excluded from international hockey tournaments in February 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine.