MOSCOW, February 28 The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) will withdraw its membership in the organization Ice Hockey Federation of Russia and Belarus in connection with the situation in Ukraine, Iltalehti reports. According to the source, the teams of the two countries will be excluded from the participation in the 2022 World Championship in Finland. Their places will be taken by the teams of Austria and France. Russia will lose the rights to host the World Youth Championships in Novosibirsk and Omsk, as well as the 2023 World Championships in St. Petersburg among men's teams. It is expected that the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki will not host matches of the tournament, since the minority owners of the stadium are Roman Rotenberg and Gennady Timchenko included in the sanctions list. The Helsinki Sports Palace may become a new venue for World Cup meetings. The meeting of the IIHF Council will be held on February 28th. Beginning — at 20.00 Moscow time. On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he had decided on a special military operation of the Russian Federation to demilitarize Ukraine. In a televised address to the Russians, he said that the circumstances «require decisive and immediate action from us, the people's republics of Donbass turned to Russia with a request for help.» On February 21, Putin signed decrees recognizing the sovereignty of the LPR and the DPR.
