VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
The transcript of the beginning of the meeting:
Vladimir Putin: Mr Tretyak (president of Russia’s Ice Hockey Federation), Mr Bilyaletdinov (head coach of the Russian national ice hockey team) and Mr Bykov (Honoured Master of Sport of the USSR). We are meeting here, first, to thank Mr Bykov: he has headed the country’s national team for five years. Of course, the latest mishap was a grave ordeal for us – both for fans and for sportsmen – and above all for the coach. I perfectly understand that. I can imagine what you felt and what you experienced. At the same time, I believe, and the fans will agree with me, that it was you, Vyacheslav Bykov, who has re-established our national team and has guided it for five years, while obtaining outstanding results. Under your guidance the team has chalked up remarkable results: they have won both silver and bronze medals and two world championships. By and large, you have breathed new life into Russian ice hockey. I strongly hope that under the new coach, Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, the team will take the next steps towards success.
To be sure, we are now at the beginning of the Olympic cycle. The new coach will be shouldering a great responsibility: the winter Olympic Games are to be held in Russia for the first time. Of course, everyone will expect good results. I will choose my words carefully to not set expectations too high, although everybody understands these expectations and the degree of responsibility. We have gathered here in anticipation of the 65th anniversary of Russian and Soviet ice hockey, and along with veteran players we will talk about this subject in a wider setting. I know in broad terms your attitude, that of the key players, and how you are going to form the national team. That, of course, is a matter for experts and those who have devoted their lives to this, for the sport’s organisers. So I would like us to pass this symbolic relay baton to the new coach and, I would also like to give a grateful send-off to Vyacheslav Bykov. This does not mean he is leaving coaching or sport, only that he is stepping down from his current post. I’m sure that many fans will agree with me. Of course, everyone was disappointed, but everyone understands it. Sport is sport, and every person has his ups and downs, just like any country or any team – this happens everywhere. Mr Bykov knows this better than anyone of us, he is an outstanding sportsman. Many thanks to you, Mr Bykov.
Vyacheslav Bykov: You know, life has given me the great opportunity of working with the national team, and you, like nobody else, know what it cost me because together we promoted our team. Great thanks to you for your trust, because you always found the time to respond to our requests and make ice hockey more popular. I think the best thing we have done is to rally the fans around this team. We became a single whole as we used to be. On the eve of the 65th anniversary, we are at one with the fans again. For me it was really a great joy to head the team. We managed to score some fairly good results. Now we have a straight road to travel before Sochi, and I would like to wish Zinetula Bilyaletdinov sport happiness. This was an appropriate metaphor – to hand over the baton to him. It has always been so: one captain passed on his duties to the next. Now it is done between coaches. I hope I will be the first fan to support our team in any capacity. Good luck to you.
Zinetula Bilyaletdinov: Thank you.
Vladimir Putin: Mr Bilyaletdinov, I told the president of Tatarstan when I talked with him: you will have to agree to Zinetula taking over the national team. He said: “I knew it.” It upset him to lose you. But you have done such a lot for sport in Tatarstan and raised the local team’s level so high that it was only natural to ask you to head Russia’s national team.
Zinetula Bilyaletdinov: Thank you. May I reply, Mr Putin? I would like to say that what is now happening here is right. This is the proper process. I mean to say that Mr Bykov worked impressively and really did a lot. And our thanks to him for his efforts are correct, very proper. This is normal and should always be so. Of course, it is a great responsibility for me to coach the national team. This has always been an honourable and responsible business, but the task now set before me is very complicated, and I will do my best. I think Mr Bykov and I will put our heads together and work on the appropriate approach together. It is our common objective, a state-related effort, and I understand this perfectly well. There must be no personal biases here. We must work together, that’s all.
Vladimir Putin: As I see it, the ministry will always be by your side and do everything to ensure your success. Let’s do everything so that you can work comfortably, have no outside problems and think of nothing else but the sport proper and the results.
Vladislav Tretyak: May I, Mr Putin? Many thanks to you for paying attention to our sport. It is understandable why you do so. This is because it is, after all, a national product. Today Russia needs to be united, and sport is a uniting factor, this implies the nation’s health which also includes many other things. Just one stadium can bring together 500 children who do not know what else to do. If they grow and become professionals, that would be great. Many thanks to you. On behalf of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, I wish to say that we have a very good relationship with the ministry. And you have helped us, of course. Our national team needs nothing today. Five years ago I remember you saying that the national team shouldn’t need anything. Thank you for your care, for prompt concern. We have no problems. And these two pros … I played with them, I fought side by side with them. You know what it is when you fight alongside another, and we did fight together… Today we have a sort of democracy and not many politics on the ice, but during the Cold War with America or Canada, every match implied big politics. So I would follow them into any battle. Our meeting today is a historic one. Usually when a manager steps down, he is not thanked. We have inherited the Soviet-era tradition of holding a coach in contempt. Your example shows once again that you pay attention to and value professionals. Personally I wish to say in all honesty that I admire you and am grateful to you for what we now have, because yours is a very good example to emulate and everybody knows this. I consider this to be great. Thank you very much.
Vladimir Putin: We need to organise the joint efforts of the ministry and the Ice Hockey Federation. It is clear that we need to promote ice hockey as one of our favourite sports now that preparations are under way for the Olympic Games. We are practically entering the home stretch now. Mr Tretyak said this and Mr Bilyaletdinov said it so. They said it was now the home stretch and we need to focus everything on preparations for the Olympics.
Vitaly Mutko (Minister of Sport, Tourism and Youth Policy): Mr Putin, a programme for the preparation and development of the team has been put together. As the coach was being appointed we checked all of our plans with the Ice Hockey Federation, scheduled all the dates, and agreed with the league. We have the appropriate dates on the calendar. The first tournament under the new head coach is past – the boys played excellently: it is an entirely revamped team. They won the tournament, all three games. What’s more, they have begun to play defencively (everything was alright). Their devotion is tremendous. In principle we will do everything we can to avoid pitfalls.
You have visited us in Novogorsk. Zinetula was also present and saw everything. We opened a new ice facility there; they can play all the time on that ice. We agreed to do some modernisation and set up the head coach’s office there. He will be able to follow the developments all the time. As for the rest, we will do it all and have no problems. I think the Channel One Cup will be played there soon, in fact in December.
Vladislav Tretyak: We invite you to attend the opening. On the 16th, we will give a gala concert devoted to the occasion.
Vladimir Putin: Thank you. Mr Bilyaletdinov, I wish to congratulate you on the successful start of the country’s national team.
Zinetula Bilyaletdinov: Thank you very much.
Vladimir Putin: I wish you success.
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The agreement on the cooperation in the development of the CSKA ice hockey club was signed in the presence of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
