PM Babiš opposes return of Russian hockey players to international competitions

Russian hockey players should remain excluded from world championships until the war in Ukraine is over, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said on Monday. He added that all members of his government shared this position.

Babiš described last week's decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to immediately lift the ban on Russian male and female hockey players competing internationally as wrong.

He was responding to a question about how the Czech government would approach the possible participation of Russian junior women's players in the Under-18 Women's World Championship, scheduled to take place in Ostrava-Poruba in January.

Babiš said allowing Russian players to return while the war and killings in Ukraine continued would send the wrong signal and suggest that the situation was acceptable.