WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump supports Russian President Vladimir Putin’s idea of holding ice hockey matches between professional American and Russian players, the Kremlin said after the two leaders spoke on Tuesday.
Russia has been frozen out of international ice hockey competitions after the country’s invasion of Ukraine three years ago.
“Donald Trump supported Vladimir Putin’s idea to organize hockey matches in the USA and Russia between Russian and American players playing in the NHL and KHL,” the Kremlin said.
The National Hockey League (NHL) is the premier North American hockey league while the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) is based in Russia.
The White House statement following the call between the two leaders did not mention hockey and it has not responded to questions about the sport.
The NHL said it was not yet ready to comment.
“We have just become aware of the conversation between President Trump and President Putin,” an NHL spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters.
“Obviously, we were not a party to those discussions, and it would be inappropriate for us to comment at this time.”
Following Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) suspended all national teams and clubs from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international events.
The NHL suspended relationships with business partners in Russia, paused its Russian language social and digital media sites and said it would not consider Russia for any future competitions after the invasion began.
The IIHF later moved the 2023 world championships out of St. Petersburg.
Russian players have continued to play for professional hockey teams in the U.S. and Canada.
The IIHF last year said that it would make a decision on Russia and its ally Belarus’ participation in the 2025-26 season by May of this year.
The 2026 Winter Olympics will take place in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in February.
Putin, an enthusiastic hockey fan, has donned skates to play publicly in Russia several times.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles and Heather Timmons in Washington; Editing by Toby Davis)
