Russia, Belarus suspended from IIHF tournaments for 2023-24

The IIHF has announced that Russia and Belarus will not participate in international tournaments for the 2023-24 season.

“Based on a detailed risk assessment from a renowned company that specializes in assessing risks due to various global challenges, the IIHF Council determined that it is not yet safe to reincorporate the Russian and Belarusian Teams back into IIHF Competitions,” a statement read.

The two teams have been banned since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022. That includes everything starting with last year’s men’s U-18 World Hockey Championship, and various non-IIHF events as well.

IIHF events include the men’s and women’s World Championship, the U-20 World Junior Championship and the men’s and women’s U-18 World Championships.

Russia and Belarus have stuck to playing tournaments with each other and Kazakhstan. Some non-IIHF events, such as the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup, U-17 World Hockey Challenge and various Four Nations and Euro Hockey Tour events, have also banned the two teams from competition.

Russia was originally supposed to host the 2023 World Junior Championship but moved to eastern Canada instead. They were also scheduled to host the 2023 men’s World Championship but was stripped in favor of a joint bid by Finland and Latvia.

The Russians still sit third in the IIHF’s men’s rankings and fifth in the women’s as of the last update in 2022. Belarus is 14th on the men’s side, but doesn’t have a women’s team at an elite level.

Neither team will participate in the upcoming IIHF tournaments, such as both senior World Championships or the U-18 World Championship in Switzerland.