"There is human contact with all hockey federations except Canada"

In March, the Russian Hockey Federation (RIHF) held a reporting and election conference, at which the organization's president Vladislav Tretyak was re-elected for another four years. After that, he said that the RIHF is ready to file a lawsuit with the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) if it does not include the Russian national teams in its calendar and does not return them to international competitions, from which they were suspended in 2022.

In an interview with Izvestia, FHR CEO Dmitry Kurbatov spoke about the possible timing of the return of the Russian junior and youth national teams, the arguments of international officials explaining the continued sanctions, the reasons for the lack of restrictions on Israeli teams amid the fighting in Gaza, as well as future cooperation with the KHL after the national team returns to the World Cup.

"If additional security is needed for us, we will bring an armored bus"

— What is the most positive forecast regarding the return of our teams to the international arena?

— We will ask to admit the U-20 national team (the Russian youth national team for players under 20 years of age. — Ed.) in December of this year. The IIHF will definitely be bullied, arguing that in the lower divisions of the World Youth Championship (MFM) The competitions have already been held, the composition and calendar have already been formed and the teams that have entered the top division for the next World Youth Championship are known. We believe that this is a surmountable thing, although it will be very difficult to do it. As for the U-20 women's national team, we will also apply for admission in December. The nearest real return is April 2027. For the same period, we hope very much for the juniors, the U-18 national team, that it will get to the World Cup, which usually takes place in April. We will try very hard to get there.

— What would you say about the first national team?

— I have no idea at all. Ask Trump (smiles). If something is signed regarding the cessation of hostilities and security issues are resolved, then we can immediately go to the IIHF and tell them to return us to the competition. Because that was one of the points when we were suspended.

— Most suspensions of Russian teams in all sports are legally attributed by international federations to security issues. Allegedly, it is not safe for our athletes to be present in a number of countries where competitions are held. Is the IIHF referring to the same thing?

- yes. On the one hand, it is easier for us to challenge this, since there is a clause in the IIHF regulations stating that the organizer is responsible for the safety of participants. At the same time, I told them: "If additional security is needed for us, we are ready to pay for it. If you want, we'll bring our own armored bus, hire your local private security company, rent a separate hotel, and make an armored tunnel out of Kevlar." But no. The strength of their position lies in the fact that the regulations prescribe their right to make a decision on the composition of participants in case of doubts about the safety of participants, judges and athletes. Everyone understands that this is a cover for political reasons, but there is such a thing. And they're dancing from it.

— How many national hockey federations do you personally and the Russian Hockey Federation maintain contacts with after 2022? Have there been more such federations recently?

— The system of human and official relations within the IIHF is completely different. Alexander Yakovlevich Steblin (President of the FHR in 1997-2006) spoke about this at the FHR reporting and election conference. — Ed.). There is a pool of federations that are traditionally close to Russia — these are representatives of the former Soviet republics and, let's say, the Southern Slavs, that is, Serbia, Slovenia, to some extent Croatia, Bulgaria. But at the same time, in recent years, we have developed very good, very friendly relations with the heads of federations and major hockey countries — the USA, Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the Czech Republic. We are on very good terms, we correspond.

— Even after 2022?

- yes. But this is a human relationship.

— And the official ones?

— Officially, there are no relations between the national federations. Officially, we only pay each other money for transfers. When a player transfers, his new federation pays the old one a fixed amount of 1.5 thousand Swiss francs. As it is, there is human contact with everyone. Except for Canada, because they recently changed the leadership of the federation, we did not communicate with the new leadership. The leadership changed due to the decision after the scandal with their youth team (a number of youth hockey players were accused of committing gang rape, but then acquitted by the court. — Ed.). A case from four or five years ago, in which nothing has been proven in court. But in the end, they recruited people in the federation — professionals who had worked there for many years.

— To what extent can all the available connections be applied to the issue of the national team's return to the international arena? It is clear that every single national federation votes only at the IIHF congress, and we were suspended by a narrow group of officials from the leadership of the international federation. But at the next elected congress in Tenerife, federations may not vote for the current president, Luc Tardif, under whom Russia was banned.

— Everything is more complicated. For example, we are not very happy with Mr. Tardif's policy, while some of the other national federations are quite happy. And it has nothing to do with the level of relations between us and this country. That is, even if we kiss our gums with someone from the federations of these countries and baptize our children, but they are satisfied with the leadership of the IIHF, they will vote for it. This is already called business — Nothing personal, just business (eng. "Nothing personal, just business." — Ed.).

— So it doesn't work so that you negotiate with friendly national federations, they vote against the current leadership of the IIHF, and it loses to another, more adequate leadership, which begins to at least seriously talk about the separation of Russia and Belarus?

— That's not how it works at all. It works in a different way — you need to communicate with people who are also unhappy. Ask questions. Because besides the discontent that we are not allowed to compete, there are a lot of questions about financial discipline, there are a lot of questions about how democratically decisions are made. That is, there are a lot of questions there to cling to. And in this sense, there are many more dissatisfied people than just Russia and Belarus.

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"Israel is waging a war with those who don't play hockey at the national team level at all"

— Roman Rotenberg said that there was an idea to try to hold friendly matches of the Russian national team with Slovakia and Hungary. To what extent does this depend on the fact that the governments of these countries, led by Robert Fico and Viktor Orban, are building normal relations with our country?

— This is just the political part. Because you can negotiate with other federations to play with them. But even if we agree, they will still go to coordinate it with their governments. Because if we are going to visit them, we need to arrange for visas to be issued to us. The Finns, for example, will definitely not give them away now. That's why we're talking about Hungary and Slovakia right now.

— Can we try to organize a match with the Czech Republic, taking into account the fact that in the fall they also had a government that was not very anti-Russian, headed by Andrei Babish?

— Listen, well, these are clickbait questions. It may or may not work out. It's like the joke about the chance of meeting a dinosaur in an apartment.

— A couple of years ago, the Israeli youth national team was suspended from competing in the lower division of the World Cup. She was returned a week later. But then a large text appeared in the Israeli media claiming that Russia and Pavel Bure, a member of the IIHF council, personally initiated the suspension. Have you ever discussed these rumors with him?

— Regarding Pavel Vladimirovich, this is 100% fake. Yes, it was a question about the MFM in one of the lower divisions. There are lower requirements and the smoke is thinner. And duplicity and double standards played a role there. At first, the Israeli national team was suspended by analogy, by prior law. Based on the fact that "You guys are fighting a war, here's a solution for you." And then, apparently, a certain lobby came and explained that "You don't understand — this is different."

Plus, an interesting argument was raised: who is Israel at war with? With those who don't play hockey at the national team level at all. And who is against Russia? Ukraine, Poland, Finland, the Czech Republic, Sweden, even Slovakia (in 2022, the then Slovak government also joined the sanctions. — Ed.). Almost all of these countries have national teams playing in the top division. That is, with Russia and Belarus. Everyone is playing with them, except Ukraine. But there is no Palestinian national hockey team. There is no Gaza national team. And so Israel was allowed back to the competition. They said that the Mossad would come with a team and provide security. This is a typical policy of double standards.

— Since 2024, the KHL has become independent from the FHR. The key change because of this is that the playoff calendar is now such that the season ends in May, when the Adult World Cup is underway. As long as Russia is not there, it does not contradict the interests of the federation. When the national team is disbanded, will you negotiate with the league so that the season ends in April again, as before?

— From the point of view of the first team, all issues with the KHL have been resolved. From the point of view of preparation, calling up players to the first national team for the World Championships and the Olympic Games, these issues have been resolved. We have an agreement — it was signed at the level of FHR President Vladislav Tretyak and KHL President Alexei Morozov. Everything is fine here. Another thing is to make a remark: like hockey, we are a happy sport. Because theoretically, the federation can recruit a national team in the spring from those players who were eliminated from the playoffs in the first rounds. And they will be professionals, high-level players. Roman Borisovich will choose one of them, and I will already be engaged in buying tickets for them to the country where the World Cup is taking place.

— So you don't need a nosebleed for all Russian KHL players to be released for the national team about a week before the World Cup, as before?

— Of course, it's better to collect them early. But there is an example of Canada, which gathers just before the World Cup, starts it badly, but finishes it well. There are different examples. There is no black and white here — the truth is always in the middle. But you asked if we would raise the issue of a fundamental review of relations with the KHL. No, we will not raise the issue of revising cardinal relations. Will we discuss this? We will be 100%. It is explicitly stated in the agreement with the KHL that after Russia is admitted to the World Cup, we sit down at the table, discuss and sign an additional agreement.