[a] After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the International Ice Hockey Federation suspended Russia from all levels of competition on 28 February 2022.

[12] From then until the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991, the "Red Machine" (Russian: Красная Машина; Krasnaya Mashina) was one of the most dominant teams in international play, winning nearly every World Championship and Olympic tournament,[17][12] as well as defeating many teams with professional players, such as in the 1974 Summit Series, the Super Series, and the 1981 Canada Cup.

The CIS national ice hockey team, composed almost entirely of Russians, with Lithuanian-born Darius Kasparaitis and Ukrainian-born Alexei Zhitnik the only non-Russians, competed as part of this Olympic delegation.

They, however, won the next edition of the tournament, beating Germany, Canada, and Sweden in the playoffs and clinching their first title as Russia and 23rd, including the USSR's totals.

At the 1998 Winter Olympics, Russia won five consecutive games and reached the gold medal match, where they lost to the Czech Republic, 0–1.

[25] After failing to win the gold medal between 1993 and 2007, the Russians restructured the national league as the KHL[26] and hired the 1993 World Champion, Vyacheslav Bykov, as the head coach.

[28] Afterwards, Russia won the 2008[29] and 2009 World Ice Hockey Championships with perfect records, beating Canada in the finals two times in a row.

[31] Bykov was replaced with Bilyaletdinov, under whose leadership Russia won the 2012 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships with yet another perfect record, beating Slovakia, 6–2, in the gold medal game.

[33] Znarok then led the Russians to the gold medal in the 2014 World Ice Hockey Championship after defeating Finland 5–2 in the final, with a perfect record.

As a result, the team relied on players from the KHL (15 from a reigning champion, SKA Saint Petersburg, 8 from CSKA Moscow and 2 from Metallurg Magnitogorsk).

[38] After a loss in their first game to Slovakia, the OAR team defeated Slovenia and the United States, qualifying for the quarterfinals.

He retired as Russia's most decorated modern head coach, with a World Championship, an Olympic gold medal, and a Euro Hockey Tour victory.

[citation needed] Next season, Russia went 8–4 in the 2018–19 Euro Hockey Tour, winning the competition and went all the way to the semi-final at the 2019 World Championship, where it lost to Finland before beating the Czech Republic for the bronze.

[44][45] Kudashov went 3–6 at the 2019–20 Euro Hockey Tour before the 2020 IIHF World Championship was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia.

Kudashov was sacked in June 2020 and replaced with Valeri Bragin, a decorated coach of the Russia men's U20 team.

[citation needed] After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the International Ice Hockey Federation suspended Russia from all levels of competition.

[11] Due to the ban, a second Russian team consisting of players under 25 took part in the 2023 Channel One Cup alongside the main roster, and newcomers Kazakhstan and Belarus.