Finland former Prime Minister Alexander Stubb harshly criticized the president of the International Ice Hockey Federation IIHF Luc Tardifin statements regarding Russia’s return to international ice hockey competitions.

Tardif, who was on a visit to Helsinki on Tuesday, emphasized that the possible return of Russia and Belarus to international hockey is not due to moral or political reasons.

“We don’t let political pressure influence our decisions. We have to make decisions outside of moral issues. We organize hockey events, we don’t solve the world’s problems,” Tardif said.

Stubb was unimpressed by Tardif’s comments.

“I am not particularly impressed by the IIHF president’s statements in Helsinki today. A clear lack of understanding of the link between politics and sports,” he wrote on Twitter.

“Statements you imagine to be ‘safe’ end up looking ‘immoral’. Russia is out as long as it is in Ukraine,” the Finnish politician continued.

Russia and Belarus were banned from international hockey in February of last year. However, Tardif has stated on several occasions that he wants Russia and Belarus back as quickly as possible.

He said on Monday that returning while the war in Ukraine was still going on would be difficult, but not completely impossible.

“I wouldn’t say impossible, but I don’t know how it would be possible. Traveling in the current situation is difficult. When the war is on, players from Russia and Belarus cannot travel. That would be a big problem,” Tardif said.