Belarus has lost the right to hold the World Championship-2021 by hockey. Now the tournament is likely to spend alone in Latvia.
The decision on the transfer of the Championship The Council of the International Hockey Federation (IIHF) adopted, as was officially announced, "for security reasons." In the near future, IIHF will decide whether the tournament only in Latvia or find a second country-hostess for the championship.
Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevich's decision to transfer the tournament from Minsk hotly welcomed. "This is a faithful signal that the sport will not be used for the benefit of authoritarian regimes, he wrote. - Latvia will fulfill its obligations and is ready to appreciate the adoption of the entire championship. "
Big hopes
The World Hockey Championship-2021 should have, according to plan, take place from May 21 to June 6 in Minsk and Riga. A year ago it seemed that it could not prevent this plans. The Latvian Prime Minister Kristyanis Karins arrived then at a visit to Minsk against the background of the next disputes of Russia and Belarus at the price of oil transit. Karins noted that it is important for Latvia to "see independent, stable and prosperous Belarus".
He invited Lukashenko to Riga with a return visit, and also reminded that the ports in Ventspils and Riga recently moved to the state, so "we are open to business." After that, the Prime Minister of Latvia handed the Hockey Sweater of the Latvian national team with the number one and his last name.
"Unlike other Baltic States, a good cooperation between our countries," answered this Lukashenko. - I believe that we need to take advantage of this moment and seriously expand our cooperation. Moreover, from its expansion we see great benefits for Latvia and for Belarus. "
However, all these plans were not destined to be implemented. The April visit of Lukashenko in Riga was postponed due to coronavirus. In August, against the background of the wave of protests in Minsk, Karinsh said that in the current situation, it is already impossible to hold World Cup on hockey together with Belarus.
Uncertainty strength
Although the solution IIHF in this situation was only the inevitable fixation of the status quo, it conducts an important intermediate feature under the events of recent months. As a result of manipulations with the voices in the elections and tough suppressions of Protests, Lukashenko was under international sanctions and lost legitimacy for the global community. Now the country-Paris for global sport has become the whole of Belarus. It is difficult to imagine that under the current government in the country will be organized a major international competition.
Alexander Lukashenko threatens to punish Europe, especially the Baltic countries, translating the transit of goods to the Russian ports. But the possibilities for revenge are unnecessary principled Baltic neighbors are limited. The appreciation of the transport component in the delivery of petroleum products through Russian ports for Minsk, according to various estimates, will be from 10% to 50%.
In addition, if Belarus truly translates the freight traffic to Russian ports, Lukashenko will lose the opportunity for maneuvers between Moscow and the EU - namely, this for many years was the main foreign policy.