Isobel Hadley-Kamptz: Absolutely right Sweden - we don't play hockey against war criminals

In February, the International Ice Hockey Federation decided that Russia would continue to be banned from competitions. It therefore caused a stir when the Court of Arbitration for Sport, CAS, declared on Friday that Russia will certainly be allowed to participate. The Russian teams are already welcomed to the Junior WC in the Christmas weekend and then to the WC in Germany in May.

So this is happening at the same time as Russia is both relentlessly bombing Ukrainian civilians and carrying out potentially deadly attacks on other European countries, such as the drone attack on an airplane in Leipzig in August. It is not surprising that Germany is now considering renouncing the host, rather than open the doors to the Russian propaganda machine on ice.

That term is usually applied to the qualities of the game, and Russia certainly has one of the world's best hockey teams, with players like Nikita Kucherov, Kirill Kaprizov and NHL giant Alexander Ovechkin. But the team's most important propaganda is not about ice hockey but about the image of Russia and of Vladimir Putin. Russian hockey is a symbol both for the nation and for the supremacy that Putin dreams of in all spheres.

As a macabre joke, Russia is also likely to take Ukraine's place in the World Cup, as Ukraine is the lowest ranked of the countries that have made it there.

It knows of someone Ovechkin who made a commercial for Putin's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov before the last Russian election. In the film, Lavrov says that there will be no mercy for "Moscow's enemies".

And with that message, Ovechkin and his team will be allowed to go out on the ice and advertise for Putin. As a macabre joke, Russia is also likely to take Ukraine's place in the World Cup, as Ukraine is the lowest ranked of the countries that have made it there.

At first, both the Finnish Ice Hockey Federation and the Latvian Ice Hockey Federation said they did not intend to play against Russia. Then Norway followed, and now on Tuesday afternoon the Swedish Hockey Federation also put down their skates. We will participate in the tournaments, but refuse to play against Russian opposition.

Sweden won the last junior WC and Finland is the reigning world champion. If CAS does not come to its senses, one can hope that this protest will spread to the entire podium, with the Czech Republic, Canada and perhaps even Switzerland. Then there won't be many championships left.

In this way, the hockey world can show, unlike so many other sports, that it stands behind both Ukraine and all the countries that are exposed to more and more violent Russian so-called hybrid attacks.

Those who want to let Russia into the sporting heat claim that you have to separate sports and politics. But choosing to play against war apologists like Ovechkin is as political as refusing. It's just another, and worse, political line.

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