For years, playing ice hockey against teams from Russia was a central part of Janne Tervahauta’s social life.

Through his team, Tunturi-Kiekko, based in Ivalo, a rural Arctic town close to Finland’s most northerly border crossing with Russia, he would travel around the Arctic with his teammates. But the Barents Hockey League went on hold during the pandemic, and after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, all contact with Russia was stopped.

“This hockey league was amateur, and a kind of old guys league. But it was very important for us,” said Tervahauta, 51. Since the war he has not had any contact with Russian teams. “Of course it is very sad,” he said. “It was a very important league of Arctic people. To meet each other – and of course it is a way to see and travel in the north.”

Before February 2022, ice hockey diplomacy was a normal part of daily life for people in northern Finland, Norway and Russia. From the European side, it was a perfect way to help thaw cross-border relations after the cold war.…