"Tournament is not a place for political games": Fasel commented on the decision of the mayor of Riga to remove the IIHF flag

"We are all surprised by what happened"

The scandal with the replacement by the Riga authorities of the flag of Belarus with a white-red-white one was continued.

A letter from the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) was sent to the Duma of the Latvian capital, in which the organization expressed dissatisfaction with what had happened, and also demanded to remove the IIHF flags from the square.

"According to our Charter, the International Ice Hockey Federation is an apolitical sports organization, and we demand that it not be drawn into the context of the political statements of the mayor and foreign minister, made by replacing the flag of a member country of our organization," - said in a statement by the president of the organization, René Fasel published on the official IIHF website.

The Riga authorities will fulfill the demand, said the mayor of the city Martins Stakis.

“The IIFH President demanded to replace the white-red-white flags of the Belarusian freedom with the flags of the current regime - or remove the flags of the federation.

We had to choose - to take the side of the people fighting for freedom, or to the side of the dictator.

We will remove the IIHF flags, ”Stakis wrote on Twitter.

Fazel later admitted that he was surprised by the reaction of the Latvian side.

In addition, he suggested that Stakis's actions are part of his election campaign.

“We are all surprised by what happened.

Everyone in hockey is against such moves.

But two weeks later the elections were in Riga and, as I understand it, the mayor used this for his election propaganda.

This is unacceptable, we have already made a statement.

The World Cup is not a place for political games, ”TASS quotes Fasel.

Recall that on the next day of the incident from Ryanair planes, Stakis, as well as Latvian Foreign Minister Edgar Rinkevich, replaced the flag of Belarus, which hung along with the flags of other countries participating in the World Cup in one of the central squares, with white-red-white.

They explained their actions by the fact that there should be no place for the symbols of "state terrorism" in the capital.

In addition, the Latvian authorities removed the Russian flag, displaying instead the logo of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), under which the national team stands because of the sanctions of the International Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Commenting on the incident, representatives of the Russian Embassy in Latvia recalled the organizers' assurances that the symbols of the Russian Federation can be used to decorate the streets.

“What is it - an inability to keep the word and defend one's own principles, a banal inconsistency or a provocative trick for the sake of the momentary political conjuncture?”, The ministry said in a statement.

The incident with the flag was condemned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, as well as the Ice Hockey Federation of Belarus (HFB), which sent a note of protest to the IIHF.

At the same time, its head Dmitry Baskov stressed that the national team did not intend to withdraw from the tournament.

In addition, there was a fear that after the arrest of Rinkevich, which was criticized by other states, the team of Belarus could be completely removed from the competition.

However, the president of the Latvian Ice Hockey Federation, Aigars Kalvitis, assured that this would not happen.

Later, he noted that the athletes at the tournament are friends with each other and do not participate in the games of politicians who are trying to use sports for their own purposes. 

"People are trying to make a name for themselves at sporting events."

Russia was also harshly condemned as the decision to remove the state flags of Belarus and Russia, as well as the IIHF symbols.

1973 World Champion Alexander Volchkov noted that major international tournaments are meaningless if they are accompanied by political scandals.

“If they do this, then nothing should be done in Europe at all, since such an absurdity.

Let them play among themselves - Latvia, Germany.

I don't even know how to comment on such provocative things.

This is what happens in politics, no one listens to anyone, they are told what to do, and they do it.

What should we answer to this?

You have to answer with a game - do your job and beat everyone.

There have always been some petty things, but now it has already come to an incomprehensible point.

Then there was no need to hold a world championship at all, to gather the whole world, "Volchkov said in a conversation with RT.

In turn, the 1993 world champion Andrei Nikolishin urged not to react to such provocations, since, in his opinion, politicians are only trying to achieve this.

“The less we talk about politics, the better for all of us.

Sport should be outside of politics.

People try to make a name for themselves at sporting events by doing this.

Sheer stupidity.

The brighter the reaction will be, the better for those who do it.

Leave this topic alone - no matter what the child is amusing himself with, as long as he does not cry, ”Nikolishin said.

The well-known commentator Dmitry Guberniev agreed with the position of the ex-hockey player.

“This is an absolutely political story.

We are already getting used to it.

Now we have problems in the game of the Russian national team, so we must pay attention first of all to this, in order for us to reach the quarterfinals and further win the world championship.

The tournament is very difficult, the teams are even, there are a lot of sensations.

We need to tune in to the sports component, ”Guberniev emphasized.

The Latvian authorities were also criticized in the State Duma of the Russian Federation.

According to the deputy Dmitry Svishchev, Latvia first accidentally received the sole holding of the World Cup after the imposition of sanctions against the HFB, and then could not justify the trust placed in it.

“These are actions incompatible with sports, a political provocation on the part of the authorities of Riga and Latvia.

This cannot be ignored.

I hope that the authorities of Riga and Latvia will be smart enough to apologize, sign an amicable agreement with IIHF and act within the rules.

Otherwise, punishment will follow.

And this will be the first and last world championship to be held in Latvia.

It is necessary to use this negative experience so that this does not happen in the future, ”concluded Svishchev.