The decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne on October 30, 2026, which ordered the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia to be allowed back into international competition, has triggered a new wave of controversy. The Swiss publication Inside Paradeplatz published a report claiming that two of the three arbitrators who supported the Russian appeal had previously attended legal conferences in Moscow. The publication has caused a sharp reaction both within CAS and throughout the international hockey community.
Arbitrators' trips to Moscow: details from the Swiss investigation
According to Inside Paradeplatz, the chairman of the arbitration panel for the Russian national teams' return case, Italian lawyer Giulio Palermo, attended a conference on arbitration procedures in Moscow on September 22, 2026. During the visit, he stayed at The Carlton hotel. Notably, Palermo's appointment as head of the panel reviewing the Russian appeal did not occur until October 9, 2026—three weeks after his stay in the Russian capital. The second subject of the report, Egyptian arbitrator Ismail Selim, according to Swiss journalists, visited a legal conference in Moscow on May 16, 2025, organized by a Russian law firm in collaboration with a Cairo-based organization working in the field of international arbitration. During the trip, Selim stayed at the Four Seasons hotel.
Resignation of a Zurich lawyer and "internal turmoil" at CAS
As reported by Inside Paradeplatz, the resonance surrounding the arbitrators' trips has led to personnel consequences within the court itself. A well-known Zurich-based lawyer, who previously served as a CAS arbitrator and was a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) legal committee, has announced his resignation. His name was not disclosed in the report. According to Swiss journalists, the decision to step down is linked to a potential conflict of interest involving Palermo and doubts regarding the impartiality of the arbitration panel that issued the decision on the Russian appeal.
CAS response and Palermo's statement
The Court of Arbitration for Sport categorically rejected reports of "internal turmoil" within the organization and criticized the Swiss media reports, calling them misleading. CAS confirmed that prior to Palermo's appointment as chair of the panel, it was unaware of his trip to Moscow. The court also noted that parties to the proceedings had the opportunity to challenge the arbitrator's independence after his appointment, but did not exercise this right. Giulio Palermo himself previously stated that he visited Moscow at his own expense and that his participation in the conference was unrelated to the subsequent consideration of the case regarding the return of the Russian teams. CAS also defended the ruling on the appeal, explaining that the IIHF had failed to provide sufficient evidence that would legally justify the continued suspension of Russian teams from international tournaments.
Context: what exactly did CAS permit?
It is worth noting that on October 30, 2026, CAS, via a unanimous decision by a panel consisting of Giulio Palermo, Ismail Selim, and British arbitrator Mark Hovell, upheld the appeal of the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia and ordered the IIHF to admit Russian teams to international competitions. The ruling covers, among others, the World Junior Championship, U18 women's and men's tournaments, and adult World Championships. The election of the new IIHF President—German Franz Reindl, who won on October 2 at the congress in Tenerife—is unfolding against the backdrop of this legal dispute, adding extra political heat to the situation in international hockey.
