Zinetula Bilyaletdinov has been approved as the head coach of the Russian national ice hockey team, the Russian Ice Hockey Federation (RIHF) reported on its website on Monday.
Bilyaletdinov, who has been the Ak Bars Kazan head coach since 2004, was approved at a conference in the Sports, Tourism and Youth Policy Ministry attended by Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, his deputy Yury Nagornykh, and RIHF President Vladislav Tretyak.
The contract with Bilyaletdinov will be signed soon and will be valid until the 2014 Olympic Games in the southern Russian resort of Sochi.
Tretyak said Mutko convinced Bilyaletdinov to give up his head coach duties in Ak Bars Kazan to be fully focused on work with the country's national team.
Vyacheslav Bykov was fired as the head coach of the Russian ice hockey team after the national side's "unsatisfactory" performance at the IIHF world championships in Slovakia in May.
Bilyaletdinov was the Russian ice hockey team's head coach in May 2004-March 2005.
