Russian oligarch Usmanov elected to head International Fencing Federation despite US, EU sanctions

Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov was elected president of the International Fencing Federation (FIE) following a vote by the Congress in Tashkent on Nov. 30, Reuters reported, citing the businessman's representative.

Usmanov, 71, headed the federation until the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, when the European Union and the U.S. first sanctioned him as a person who fueled Russian aggression in Ukraine.

The same year, Usmanov stepped down from international fencing, and his then-deputy Emmanuel Katsiadakis became the acting president of the body.

During the FIE Congress on Nov. 30, 120 member countries voted for Usmanov, and 26 voted for his opponent, the president of the Swedish Fencing Federation, Otto Drakenberg, according to Reuters.

Ahead of the election of the new FIE president, Drakenberg in October asked the FIE Ethics Committee and Katsiadakis about "the criteria on which Usmanov's candidacy was approved, given the very significant sanctions."

Drakenberg also called for Usmanov's exclusion from the elections, calling his possible return to power in an international organization "absurd."

Katsiadakis, in turn, sent a letter to the Swedish Fencing Federation, claiming that Usmanov's candidacy complied with the FIE charter "despite the sanctions currently being applied to him."

As long as international sanctions are in place, Usmanov cannot work at the FIE's Swiss headquarters or travel to most international tournaments, including the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, after being elected, the Russian oligarch said he would continue to take milestone measures to prevent "legally unjustified restrictions" from being imposed on him.

Usmanov was first elected president of the FIE in 2008 and re-elected in 2012, 2016, and 2021. His fourth term in office ended early in 2022.

With the outbreak of the full-scale invasion, Russian and Belarusian fencers were suspended from competing in tournaments under the auspices of the FIE.

In early March 2023, the FIE returned athletes from Russia and Belarus to competitions under neutral status. At the same time, the ban on the countries entering team competitions remained in force.

In the summer, the FIE Disciplinary Tribunal refused to consider Ukraine's Fencing Federation's complaint against Russia's membership in the organization. Following the refusal, the Ukrainian governing body appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

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The Kyiv IndependentOleg Sukhov