Russian President Vladimir Putin met with promising young ice hockey players at a national development programme in Sochi ©IHFR

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with promising young ice hockey players at a national development programme aimed at developing future talent in the sport.

The Ice Hockey Federation of Russia (IHFR) held the seminar at the Sirius Educational Centre in Sochi as part of the national development programme preparing for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.

Putin, who has regularly attended ice hockey matches in a ceremonial role, posed for pictures with young players at the Centre created in 2015 to help with training and education of players and coaches.

He implemented the Red Machine National Development Programme, in order to enhance ice hockey development in Russia up to 2024.

Vladimir Putin has regularly attended ice hockey matches as Russian President, taking a close interest in the sport ©Getty Images
Vladimir Putin has regularly attended ice hockey matches as Russian President, taking a close interest in the sport ©Getty Images

"The Russian Ice Hockey Federation has produced a unified program for training ice hockey players," IHFR vice-president Roman Rotenberg said. 

"Our programme isn't just about training concepts, it is the entire philosophy of Russian ice hockey, based upon the methods used by our great coaches such as Anatoly Tarasov and Viktor Tikhonov alongside the leading ice hockey countries.

"Both coaches and parents will use this program, and it will help children to become great citizens of our country.

"At the moment, our youth national teams are already training in accordance with this program, and the results are already there to see as our under-18 national team qualified for the final of their World Championship for the first time in 10 years."