"We hope that some of the matches against the USA will be this year"

Sports competitions between the teams of Russia and the USA may take place this year and not only in hockey, but also in mixed martial arts and football. Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for Investment and Economic Cooperation with Foreign countries, told Izvestia on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). He was one of the key participants in the Russian negotiating group, which discussed issues of restoring bilateral relations with the US delegation in Riyadh. It was as a result of these negotiations that in March the sports community began to actively discuss the topic of a possible hockey match between the KHL and the NHL.

In an interview with Izvestia, Kirill Dmitriev stated the failure of the previous US President Joe Biden's attempt to isolate Russia in sports and expressed the hope that Donald Trump's actions would influence the return of Russian athletes to the international arena.

— In early spring, the sports community in Russia was alarmed by the news that during one of the rounds of Russian-American negotiations in Riyadh, a preliminary agreement appeared on holding a hockey match between the KHL and NHL teams. How seriously was this discussed then? And when is the realization of this idea possible?

— I'll say it more broadly: various sporting events were definitely discussed, which will certainly be interesting to both Russian and American viewers. This includes hockey, UFC, and football. We hope that there will be these matches, and some of them will be this year. We're watching. It is very important that we have, for example, the wonderful Mr. Ovechkin, who is a legend not only in Russia, but all over the world, including in the United States. And we see that our successful athletes represent Russia very well at the global level.

— Did the topic of sanctions against Russian and Belarusian sports and the suspension of our teams from international competitions be discussed during these negotiations?

— You know, it is very important that the United States, because of President Biden, has been living in such a cocoon of lies about Russia for a long time. Getting out of this cocoon of lies will take some time and require some effort. What is important: we see that these efforts are working — four days ago, President Trump said that it was a mistake to exclude Russia from the G8 countries, and also stated that American sanctions cost American companies a lot. Therefore, we just see a general growing understanding that we need to have a dialogue with Russia and build bridges. In principle, we see positive trends in sports, and Biden's attempts to completely isolate Russia in sports have failed. But we hope that Russia will indeed be more and more represented in sports at the global level, and new international sports officials are also committed to this direction.