Without Canadian citizenship, however, he chose to return to Russia and was selected to compete for that country at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. He continued to compete for Russia in 2006-07 after a bid to fast-track his Canadian citizenship was unsuccessful.
Although he lacked Canadian passport status, he decided to go back to Russia and was picked to participate for that nation at the 2006 Winter Olympics. He kept on competing for Russia from 2006-07 following an attempt to speed up his Canadian citizenship application.