{"id":613907,"date":"2026-06-06T01:20:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T01:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=613907"},"modified":"2026-06-06T01:20:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T01:20:00","slug":"moscow-to-host-us-russia-hockey-match-week-of-july-4th-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=613907","title":{"rendered":"Moscow To Host US-Russia Hockey Match Week Of July 4th"},"content":{"rendered":"

Moscow To Host US-Russia Hockey Match Week Of July 4th<\/span><\/p>\n

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The world’s two largest nuclear powers are apparently turning to old school, Cold War-style sports diplomacy to thaw out their deeply frozen bilateral relations, even as there’s as yet no solution to the grinding Russia-Ukraine war.<\/p>\n

Russian and American ice hockey players are scheduled<\/a> to face off in Moscow on July 1<\/strong>.\u00a0President Vladimir Putin first proposed holding hockey matches between Russian and American players in both countries during a direct phone call with President Trump.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

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Getty Images<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Soon after that March 2025 phone call the Kremlin noted at the time that Trump had “expressed support” for the initiative.<\/p>\n

According to the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia (AmCham Russia), the event is part of a broader series of matches. Notably\u00a0the initial match is timed just ahead of the milestone 250th anniversary of US independence on July 4th<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

“We hope this will help melt the ice that formed between us,”<\/strong> AmCham Russia President Robert Agee\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0Thursday. The announcement was made at the\u00a029th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), which is currently ongoing.<\/p>\n

He confirmed that Russia and the US would play the match, expressing that it will be a “friendly” game, according to TASS<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While it’s unclear which players will make up the rosters from either side, The Moscow Times<\/em> has cited that Agee\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0“NHL superstar and prominent Putin supporter Alexander Ovechkin will be involved in the event<\/strong>, though the full roster will be a mix of professional and amateur athletes. He did not provide further details.”<\/p>\n

The International Ice Hockey Federation banned Russia from all official international tournaments immediately following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and so this event constitutes a rare, symbolic defiance of the international sports body and its regulations set down.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the\u00a0Ukrainians are fuming\u00a0<\/strong>over the plan<\/a>, as they want to see Russia as isolated as possible. But a US against Russia hockey game, covered by international media and featuring superstar athletes on the ice would be anything but ‘isolation’.<\/p>\n

Back when Putin was literally on the ice himself for an exhibition…<\/em><\/p>\n

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WATCH: Putin scores 8 goals in an exhibition hockey game in Russia pic.twitter.com\/XePFMRIej9<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Bloomberg Originals (@bbgoriginals) May 10, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Indeed it in and of itself would be a big diplomatic win for Moscow, but the White House sees this as essentially worth it if it can lead to peace, and eventual normalization of relations with Russia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nFri, 06\/05\/2026 – 21:20<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Moscow To Host US-Russia Hockey Match Week Of July 4th The world’s two largest nuclear powers are apparently turning to old school, Cold War-style sports diplomacy to thaw out their deeply frozen bilateral relations, even as there’s as yet no solution to the grinding Russia-Ukraine war. Russian and American ice hockey players are scheduled to… Continue reading Moscow To Host US-Russia Hockey Match Week Of July 4th<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":613901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,19,10,21,12,11,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-613907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cancel-culture","category-censorship","category-civil-liberties","category-election-integrity","category-equal-justice","category-free-speech","category-religious-freedom","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=613907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/613901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=613907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=613907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=613907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}