Since Alexander Lukashenko declared victory in Belarus' presidential election in August, there has been widespread unrest in the country.
There have been extensive demonstrations critical of the regime where the regime has responded with acts of violence and ill-treatment.
It has led large parts of the ice hockey world to question that the ice hockey World Cup in May will be decided in Belarus.
Today, the chairmen of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) René Fasel and Lukashenko met for a meeting in Minsk.
They were captured in the picture when they met each other with a big hug.
- We are very happy to be here today and to have the opportunity to discuss the situation, says Fasel.
- The situation is a little different compared to the one we had in 2014 (most recently the World Cup took place in Belarus).
As Belarus has had problems, we are under great pressure, says Fasel.
"Then there will be no World Cup in Belarus"
Lukashenko will take over responsibility for the Ice Hockey World Cup at Fasel.
- If the IIHF succeeds in fencing off the unfair pressure that is put on us, we will host the World Cup, but if the IIHF does not cope with the pressure from certain political movements in specific countries, there will be no World Cup in Belarus, he says and addresses Phase:
- Everything depends on you today.
I agree with your latest statement: sport should unite countries, not divide them.
And sports and politics should not be mixed.
Swedish Association: "Can not be played"
Latvia has previously said it does not want to host the World Cup with Belarus.
Anders Larsson, chairman of the Swedish Ice Hockey Association, previously commented on the situation as follows:
- As it looks here and now - and the assessment we make from the Swedish side - it is not possible to play under these conditions.
The board of the International Ice Hockey Federation has not yet made a decision on the matter yet.
The Ice Hockey World Cup is scheduled to begin on May 23.
KLIPP: The Swedish Federation's chairman of the Belarus World Cup: "Worrying" (19/11)
Javascript is disabled
Javascript must be turned on to play video
Read more about browser support
The browser is not supported
SVT does not support playback in your browser.
We therefore recommend that you switch to another browser.
Read more about browser support
Anders Larsson, chairman of the Swedish Ice Hockey Association Photo: Bildbyrån / TT