Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar and Evgeny Pashutin have reached an agreement to terminate his head coaching contract, the club announced Thursday. Pashutin, 52, was in his second stint with Lokomotiv, which he led to the 7DAYS EuroCup title in 2013. Lokomotiv had a 5-2 record in the EuroCup and was 5-3 in the VTB League when the decision was taken. Pashutin had replaced Luca Banchi in December of 2019. Before joining Lokomotiv for the first time, Pashutin had led UNICS Kazan to a EuroCup title in 2011 and had been a two-time EuroLeague champion as an assistant coach with CSKA Moscow, in 2006 and 2008. Last season, Pashutin led Lokomotiv to the EuroCup Quarterfinals and the VTB League semifinals. Assistant coach Branko Maksimovic will lead the team in the next games on an interim basis, the club said in its announcement.

"We would like to thank Evgeny Pashutin for his fruitful work over two and a half seasons. He led the team during the challenging times associated with the pandemic and has had some success," Lokomotiv president Andrey Vedishchev said. "Recently – already for quite a long time – Lokomotiv did not show the required level of play, defense and rotation, and this situation forced us to make this decision. I hope our fans will take this news with understanding."