Blades of glory: Putin’s aide, FSB generals, and a GRU spy lace up with a convict on Russia’s most secretive amateur ice hockey team
The “Buran” amateur hockey team, competing in Russia’s Amateur Hockey League (LHL), has received more than 400 applications for a spot on the roster in 2025 alone. The reason: Vladimir Putin’s so-called “aide” Dmitry Kovalev and powerful FSB General Ivan Tkachev, often described as the “fist” of Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, skate for the squad. In past seasons, Buran players wore jerseys with their last names. This year, however, their uniforms have gone anonymous, displaying only numbers.