OREANDA-NEWS. Belarus will receive compensation from the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) for depriving the 2021 Ice Hockey World Cup. This was stated by a member of the IIHF Council Petr Brziza in an interview with the Czech edition Sport.cz published on Monday, January 18. The exact amount of payments is not known yet. Sports official said, that they are waiting for a report and analysis from the office of the IIHF Secretary General, which will determine all the costs and consequences of this decision in the coming weeks.

Negotiations are underway with Denmark and Slovakia on the possibility of holding the championship matches in these countries, which were supposed to be held in Minsk. Latvia, which was originally supposed to host the World Cup together with Belarus, expressed it's readiness to host the entire tournament. According to Petr Brziza, the IIHF does not have a favorite yet, a decision will be made later. The organization will bear the costs of rescheduling the championship.

Earlier, on January 18, the IIHF announced that Minsk was deprived of the right to host the World Ice Hockey Championship in 2021. The Federation explained it's decision with security issues that are beyond it's control.

A number of companies – Škoda, Nivea and Liqui Moly – refused to sponsor the competition in light of the attitude of the authorities of the republic to the participants of the months-long protests. Representatives of the Belarusian civil society and foreign politicians have repeatedly called on the leadership of the IIHF to deprive Belarus of the right to host the World Ice Hockey Championship and thus respond to the policy of it's authorities and ruler Alexander Lukashenko.