Plushenko skated in ice shows around the world while continuing to train for a possible return to competition by practicing quad Salchows and quad loops. In April 2011, he sent a letter to the Russian figure skating federation president, Aleksandr Gorshkov, seeking reinstatement. Plushenko said he hoped the ban was not a retaliation of his criticism of the judging at the Olympics and that he would like to return to competition with a clean slate. Although he said he would have liked to compete at the 2011 World Championships if the ban had been lifted, he did not feel he would have been ready due to lost training time as a result of injury. On 12 June 2011, it was announced that the ISU had reinstated him by a unanimous vote.
On 12 June 2011, Plushenko said that he had undergone knee surgery due to a meniscus problem but would be back on track within two weeks. Although his left knee continued bothering him, he resumed training in Mishin's group, alongside Artur Gachinski, saying "Competition is always good, remember there was a time when Alexei Urmanov, Alexei Yagudin and I all trained together. We pushed each other. With Artur in the group, I have a sparring partner. He does a quad and I have to do a quad as well." He declined an offer to skate in a 50-show tour in order to train.
In December 2011, Plushenko competed at the 2012 Russian Championships. He won the short program with a score of 88.24 and then won the free skating with a score of 171.43, to win his ninth national title. He was named to the Russian team for the 2012 European Championships, although he had not competed internationally recently enough to have the minimum technical elements scores (20 in the short program, 35 in the free). The Russian figure skating federation asked the ISU to allow him to compete, with Aleksandr Gorshkov saying that the minimum scores were designed to filter out weak skaters. In January 2012, the ISU released a statement confirming that Plushenko had been allowed to participate in the 2012 European Championships. On 26 January 2012, Plushenko confirmed that he would undergo additional surgery on his meniscus after the competition and would be unable to compete at the 2012 World Championships.