As the Soviet Union The Soviet Union speedway team (which was composed predominantly of Russian riders but also Ukrainian, Latvian and Belarus riders) first competed in the
1961 edition of the
Speedway World Team Cup, where they finished second in the East European round. Throughout the history of World Team Cup, the team were regular World Cup contenders from 1961 until their final World Cup in 1983. They reached the final on 12 occasions, winning the silver medal five times, in 1964, 1966, 1971, 1972, 1975 and the bronze medals three times, in 1967, 1969 and 1973.
As Russia Following the
Dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, the riders then competed for their new speedway nations of
Russia,
Ukraine and Russia. The Russian national team first competed in the World Team Cup at the
1993 Speedway World Team Cup, finishing 1st in Group D (the fourth tier of the World Cup). They quickly established themselves as a major contender and reached the World Cup final in 1996 and winning the silver medal. The team experienced a disappointing period from 1997 and although they regularly finished inside the top ten, it was not until 2009 that they reached a final, competing in the
2009 Speedway World Cup final. They then won bronze medala at the
2012 Speedway World Cup and the
2017 Speedway World Cup. The
Speedway of Nations was introduced in 2018 and Russia dominated the first three years of the event, becoming the world champions from 2018 to 2020. However, their run came to an end due to the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. On 6 March 2022, the
Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme banned all Russian motorcycle riders, teams, officials, and competitions. == Major world medals ==