Russia Russia is an European country , bordered by Norway , Finland , Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania ( Kaliningrad Oblast ) , Poland ( Kaliningrad Oblast ) , Belarus , Ukraine , Georgia , Azerbaijan , Kazakhstan , China , Mongolia and North Korea . It is also close to the U . S . state of Alaska , Sweden and Japan across relatively small stretches of water ( the Bering Strait , the Baltic Sea , and La Pérouse Strait , respectively ) . There are a little over 142 million people living in Russia , which capital is Moscow . Organization . Hockey is a very popular sport in Russia . It ' s top professional league , the Kontinental Hockey League , is among the strongest in the world . The league was created out of the Russian Superleague and made a major league with the unveiled intent of competing with the National Hockey League . The Vysshaya Liga is the 2nd level of hockey , the Pervaya Liga is the 3rd level and the Vtoraya Liga is the 4th level of ice hockey . History of hockey in Russia . The first hockey games were played in the former Soviet Union in the 1930 ' s . The first Soviet ice hockey championships league started in 1946 - 47 . Dynamo Moscow were the first champions of the Soviet Union . During the next season , the Soviet league was made up of ten teams . The country joined the International Ice Hockey Federation in 1952 . The Soviet Union made its debut at the World Championships two years later . The team defeated Canada 7 - 2 in the gold medal game and would remain a power in international hockey until the breakup of the Soviet Union . Septembre 2011 . Plusieurs membres du club de 1e Division , Locomotif , meurent dans un accident d ' avion russe dans la cual 43 personnes ont péri . International . On the international level , Russia is very competitive , continuously ranked in the elite of the world and part of the Big Seven . They won the Gold medal in international competitions in 1993 , 2008 , and 2009 . They won the silver medal in 2002 and 2010 . They won the Bronze medal in 2005 and 2007 . Russia has also had success in ice hockey at the Olympics , winning the Silver medal in 1998 , and the Bronze medal in 2002 . The Russian men ' s national ice hockey team is the national ice hockey team of Russia and are controlled by the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia . They are currently rated number one in the IIHF World Ranking . The team has been competing internationally since 1993 and follows a long tradition of Soviet teams mostly composed of Russian players . The Russian team replaced the Unified Team of the ice hockey at the 1992 Winter Olympics and the Commonwealth of Independent States team of the 1992 World Championships . The Russian team has not been as dominant as the Soviet team , winning the gold in the World Championships three times in 18 years , but it remains one of the top teams in the world . Russia finished fourth at the 2006 Winter Olympics . Russia has a total of 84 , 720 players , about 0 . 05 % of its population . As of February 2010 , their head coach is Vyacheslav Bykov . The top three nominees for the 2009 Hart Memorial Trophy ( the most valuable player award in the National Hockey League ) all play for the Russian team : Alexander Ovechkin , Pavel Datsyuk , and Evgeni Malkin . Leagues . Defunct . International Ice Hockey League