Almost two weeks after leading Russia’s basketball national team to European supremacy, Andrei Kirilenko stirred the interest of CSKA Moscow.

CSKA’s officials said they would happily sign Kirilenko, but getting him out of his $63 million NBA contract with the Utah Jazz would be very difficult.

Kirilenko, often nicknamed “AK-47”, expressed his opinion on the matter underlining that he would like to end his contract with the NBA team and come back to the Russian basketball league. The Russian star blames differences with Coach Jerry Sloan as the main reason.

The president of the CSKA told Sport Express that although Kirilenko’s departure from the NBA would be complicated and any move would be subject to the NBA's approval, the doors of the club he manages are wide open to “AK-47”.

Kirilenko and Viktor Khryapa, another Russian NBA player, participated at an exhibition in which they played basketball with underprivileged children at the U.S. embassy in Moscow. The exhibition was part of celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of U.S.-Russian diplomatic relations.   

After some drills with a group of Moscow and Embassy kids, the two superstars played an exhibition game with embassy employees and some Russian showbiz celebrities. The two displayed all types of spectacular moves to entertain the Muscovite crowd. They even engaged in a fool-around fight and Kirilenko got a technical for that.

When talking about his problems at the Utah Jazz, Kirilenko mentioned the Moscow powerhouse CSKA as one of the possible future destinations, causing mass-hysteria among Russian basketball fans. However, the European Championships MVP didn’t make any further comments.

The two, Kirilenko and Khryapa, were in top form in the final of FIBA Europe against Spain as they led their team to victory over the raining World Champions and the strong favorites to win gold in Europe as well.

Kirilenko amounted 17 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists, while Khryapa finished with 12 rebounds and added 7 points before being eliminated with 5 fouls.

CSKA Moscow , often referred to as "Red Army" for its past affiliation with the Soviet Army, were the 2006 Euro league champions, defeating two-time defending champions Maccabi Tel Aviv, and runners-up in 2007, losing 93–91 to Panathinaikos on the Greeks' home floor, the Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens.