Vladislav Tretiak: "Russia is expanding and strengthening relations with China in the field of ice hockey"

The International Russian-Chinese Winter Sports Festival will be held on the 22nd and 23rd of February.

The event will take place on the ice of the Amur River between Blagoveshchensk, the capital of the Amur Region, and Heihe, a city in the Chinese province of Heilongjiang. One of the central events of the festival will be the Commonwealth ice hockey competition, in which Russian and Chinese teams in the following three age categories will compete: children, teenagers and amateurs over the age of 40.

A press conference was held in Moscow at the TASS news agency office, where the program of the upcoming international festival was presented. Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyaryov, Amur Region Governor Vasily Orlov and President of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation (RIHF) Vladislav Tretiak spoke in detail about the expansion and deepening of cooperation between Russia and China in the field of ice hockey.

Mikhail Degtyaryov, Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation:

"The comprehensive partnership between our countries also includes sport. The Russian-Chinese Youth Games have just ended in Sakhalin, and we are preparing a grand festival in the Amur Region. We're actively engaging in the exchanges of experience and interaction in all areas such as coaching athletes and launching new tournaments. I would like to thank the RIHF for its involvement in the process. The upcoming events are very important, and in the year of the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory, they have a special ideological significance, recalling the allied relations of our country and China during the Second World War."

Vladislav Tretiak, President of the RIHF:

"The Ministry of Sport is doing a brilliant job of creating the required conditions for the development of sport in all regions of the country, including the Far East. Our common goal is to fulfill the strategic order of Russian President Vladimir Putin which states that 70% of our nation's population must be involved in physical culture and sport. Events such as the winter sports festival are an excellent example of involving a wide variety of people in new, exciting competitions. I'm happy that ice hockey will be in the spotlight in Blagoveshchensk!

"Russia and China are really close countries, for many years we have supported each other and cooperated in various areas. This also now concerns ice hockey. Our cooperation in this field began in the mid-2010s, when during our President's trip to Beijing, an agreement with regard to ice hockey cooperation was signed. We're happy that our neighbouring country is interested in the victorious experience of Russian ice hockey. Thanks to sport, our nations will become even closer, and the strengthening of relations with friendly countries is one of the RIHF's priorities."