Arctic Winter Games International Committee bans Yamal, Russia

Key takeaways: 

• Russia’s attack on Ukraine cited censorship as the Arctic Winter Games club asks for peace.
• The International Arctic Winter Games Committee has prohibited Yamal, Russia.

Yamal, Russia restricted to play after orders by the committee: 

The International Arctic Winter Games Committee has stopped Yamal, Russia, from its biennial circumpolar sport and culture event, noting the Russian attack of Ukraine in a report Tuesday evening. 

The Arctic Winter Games are held every two years and are essential circumpolar sports and cultural occasions for youth. Approximately 2,000 athletes from around the globe — including Russia, Greenland, Finland, and Norway, and Yukon, Nunavut, Nunavik, the Northwest Territories, northern Alberta, and Alaska — usually follow, along with a parallel number of recruits.

In a report released Tuesday evening, the Arctic Winter Games International Committee declared it had “suspended Yamal, Russia, with direct effect, following the invasions growing in Ukraine.”

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“The Arctic Winter Games International Committee is extremely concerned about the continuing events in Ukraine and the burial effects on human life,” said AWG International Committee president John Flynn. “We join our international allies in asking for peace.”

Russia’s Yamal-Nenets autonomous province is about 2,500 kilometers northeast of Moscow. It has an effective Indigenous population and has been partaking in the Arctic Winter Games since 2004. In 2020, the AWG International Committee declared that the province was slated to host the matches in 2026.

The following Arctic Winter Games were planned for Jan. 29 to Feb. 4, 2023, in Northern Alberta’s Wood Buffalo province, after being delayed from March 2022 because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Source – cbc.ca