Olympic champion calls on Russia to leave international federation "to be respected"

Two-time Olympic champion Igor Larionov has called on Russia  to leave International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) after its suspension from the 2024 World Championship. According to the head coach of Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, the aggressor country will allegedly demonstrate that it must be respected.

Larionov stated this in an interview with the propaganda TV channel Match TV. The former hockey player noted that in recent years, Russia has lost more than $20 million because of players' transfers to clubs of the National Hockey League (NHL), with which Russia does not work directly.

"There is a great reason to reconsider all this, to make a tough and correct decision. We still have to make sure that we are respected. And today the IIHF has turned its back on us. This is my personal opinion, but a reasonable question arises: why do we need the IIHF at all? The Russian Ice Hockey Federation may have some kind of cooperation with the IIHF. It would probably be the right thing to do. But then we can deal directly with the NHL in terms of player transfers. Because we have lost, if I'm not mistaken, $23 million over the past 10 years. These guys went to North America for free," Larionov said.

For his part, Olympic champion Alexander Kozhevnikov lashed out at Ukraine's "stinking" allies over the ice hockey World Cup.

As OBOZREVATEL previously reported, legendary hockey goalkeeper Vladislav Tretiak expressed outrage at Russia's suspension from international competitions, saying that "not a single Ukrainian was touched" in his country.

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