MOSCOW, November 29 (Sputnik) — Russian President Vladimir Putin, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, and the outgoing and incoming heads of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League Alexander Medvedev and Dmitri Chernyshenko hit the ice for a friendly match on Friday night in Sochi.
The leader of the country joined the head of its armed forces and two of its top sports officials to play at the Bolshoi Ice Dome, site of February’s 2014 Olympic hockey matches and the 2013 International Ice Hockey Federation World Under-18 Championship. Legendary defenseman Vyacheslav Fetisov also joined them.
Putin, 62, began playing only two years ago; however, he was said to have played “a fairly confident game, and as a result, scored three goals,” television channel Zvezda noted.
This is not the first time the president has invited fellow Russian officials for a friendly game; earlier, he had played hockey with the president of Belarus, Alexandr Lukashenko. Earlier this month, Putin stepped out onto the ice with the president of the International Ice Hockey Federation, Rene Fasel.
The match followed a meeting of the Board of Directors of the KHL, where Medvedev stepped down in favor of Chernyshenko, the former head of the Organizing Committee for Sochi 2014.
