MOSCOW, August 11 (RIA Novosti) - The agreement between the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and the National Hockey League (NHL) will not be signed without the consent of the Russian and Czech hockey federations, the president of the Russian Hockey Federation (RHF) said Thursday.
"The agreement will not be signed without us and the Czechs," Alexander Steblin said.
Vladimir Gerasimov, the press-attache of the Russian Professional Hockey League (PHL), said that heads of Russian hockey clubs once again supported the decision not to ratify the agreement between the IIHF and NHL. Representatives of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and Federal Agency of Physical Culture and Sport backed the PHL position, he added.
Steblin and RHF Vice President Vladimir Shalayev will fly to Zurich on Friday morning to attend IIHF discussions with delegations from the leading hockey nations, Gerasimov said.
Last week, heads of Russian hockey clubs rejected the agreement between the IIHF and NHL concerning financial compensation for Russian players in North America. Russian hockey officials say that Russian hockey must stop being "a raw material supplier" for the U.S. and Canadian hockey.
