Former head coach of the Russian team Vladimir Plyushchev demanded from the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) to return the Russian team to the World Championship. The winner of the 2002 World Youth Championship added that this should be done while respecting the rights of representatives of the aggressor country to play under the national flag.

Plyushchev said this in an interview with the newspaper Sport den za dnem. He complained that Western national teams do not want to play with the Russians, and therefore the Russian national team does not really exist today, because it conducts neither training camps nor friendly matches.

"Now it is difficult to talk about our national team, because there is, roughly speaking, no coaching staff, no roster, there is nothing. It's Europe that doesn't want to play with us, let's start from that. If we talk about whether the team is needed or not - probably, it is needed. The question is different - there is nothing to discuss yet. The Russian national team must perform with its flag and its coat of arms. And in general, any athlete in his country, if he is a citizen, must perform under his own symbol. If he doesn't consider himself a citizen of his country, that's another question," Plyushchev said.

Earlier, he called the success of the Latvian national team at the World Cup 2023, where it won a historic bronze medal, noted lies about the Ukrainian hockey players as a coincidence.

As reported by OBOZREVATEL, former Ukrainian coach Andrei Nazarov demanded to return Russia to the hockey World Cup, as "Russia does not bend to anyone".

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