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Putin to play ice-hockey tonight, Kremlin spokesperson says

“The president has invited Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, Alexander Medvedev and Dmitry Chernyshenko to play and train with him,” Peskov said

SOCHI, November 28 /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin is going to play ice-hockey tonight, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told TASS on Friday after Putin’s meeting with the former and newly elected presidents of the Kontinental Hockey League, Alexander Medvedev and Dmitry Chernyshenko. The two will also keep company to Putin on an ice arena.

“The president has invited Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, Alexander Medvedev and Dmitry Chernyshenko to play and train with him,” Peskov said adding that Putin had met President of International Ice Hockey Federation Renais Fasel the other day.

It’s not going to be the first ice duel for Putin. Famous for his love of martial arts, the 60-year-old Putin promised young athletes to learn to stand on skates and handle an ice-hockey stick. The president lived up to his promise to support domestic ice-hockey among other things. Putin admitted that his first steps on ice were far from successful. “I thought of snatching at a sideboard in order not to fall,” the president said.

Putin has shown off his skills in separate matches of the All-Russia festival of the Night Ice Hockey League several times since then. In 2012, when the first festival was held, Putin entered the ice arena just hours after the inauguration.

Putin has also invited his fellow politicians, including the presidents of Finland and Belarus, to an ice arena several times.