MOSCOW, April 21. /TASS/. The Russian Volleyball Federation (VFB) is open to the idea of holding exhibition matches between the Russian and US national teams, VFB Secretary General Alexander Yaremenko told TASS on Monday. In a telephone call in mid-March between the US and Russian presidents, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, the American leader endorsed a proposed initiative from his Russian counterpart to hold matches between NHL and KHL players. Speaking about possible friendly encounters between the Russian and US volleyball national squads, Yaremenko said: "To be honest, we [VFB] have not discussed this possibility yet, but it’s an interesting idea." "If political relations evolve in such a way as to make it possible to hold matches between Russia and the United States, I think they will start with hockey," Yaremenko continued. "That said, we’ll review it on our end and support the initiative if we can. We’ll give it a try – although coordinating with the international calendar could be tricky," the VFB chief noted. "Still, we’ll be glad to consider it," Yaremenko added. Numerous US volleyballers are playing with Russian professional clubs, most notably Micah Christenson, a 31-year-old two-time Olympic bronze medalist (2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and 2024 Olympics in Paris), who has been suiting up for Russia’s Zenit Kazan volleyball club since 2021. Mathew Anderson, 38, who played with Christenson on those Olympic bronze medal teams for the US, also played his fair share in Russia, appearing in more than 160 matches for Russian clubs Zenit Kazan and Zenit St. Petersburg since 2012 before moving on to join Turkey’s Ziraat Bankasi Ankara in 2023.