The State Duma announced the desire of foreign hockey fans to see the Russian national team in competitions.
Our team is always running an interesting and opinionated battle.
The international federation should take a tough stance in response to the statements of European colleagues against the Russian Federation, stated Svetlana Zhurova, first deputy chairwoman of the lower house committee of the parliament for international affairs, in an interview with the "Moscow Speaks" radio station.
They are [European - approx. GM] are counting on using blackmail and threats to force the International Federation to refuse us. They want to bring the situation to absurdity; They will extort with boycotts. The federation, on the contrary, should take a strong position and see what level it will reach? Are these threats while the championship is far away? They can only hope that ours will not be granted visas, but we cannot stop it in any way. It will be on their conscience, and we will refuse to [participate in competitions - roughly. GM] We won't say exactly, it's one hundred percent.
I'm sure there are a huge number of fans in the world who want to see Russia. In these countries, the fans want to see fights, they want to see an interesting competition on the ice, but Russia always forces it. And it's always a different championship when Russia participates in it, and the opinions there are different.