MOSCOW, July 1. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has no shortage of members for his team, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday in a riposte to a recent remark by the Finnish president who said he’d no longer play the game alongside Putin.

"Putin has no shortage of members for his team, members of the overall team, so Putin plays hockey and does it regularly," the spokesman said.

"Sport, and such a team sport as hockey, it probably helps rapprochement, the building of mutual trust," Peskov said. "From this perspective, it once used to be a very, very good and positive practice at the very beginning of Mr. Niinisto's presidential path."

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto recently said that he would no longer play hockey with Putin.