The Court of Arbitration for Sport reinstates Russia in international hockey competitions and defends its decision.

Russian hockey will soon return to international competitions. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has upheld its decision to reinstate Russian teams, which have been excluded since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

However, this decision is far from unanimous. Several bodies and figures in the world of hockey have greeted it with reservations, notably the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).

Faced with criticism, the CAS takes up the cause of Russia's return to the international stage, believing that nothing in the legal arguments and evidence put forward by the IIHF justifies maintaining its exclusion.

"The CAS wishes to reiterate that, as an independent sports arbitration institution, it bases its decisions on the legal merits of an appeal, relying exclusively on the arguments and evidence presented by the parties," the organization said in a statement.

Since the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine in 2022, the Russian and Belarusian national hockey teams have been barred from international competitions. However, some Russian athletes have been able to participate in competitions under a neutral flag, without officially representing their country.

Cheick Omar Ouedraogo