Uzbek-native Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov was re-elected as president of the International Fencing Federation, Fédération Internationale d'Escrime (FIE) at the congress on November 30 in Tashkent, the press service of the Ministry of Sports said.
His opponent in the election was the president of the Swedish Fencing Federation Otto Drakenberg. Alisher Usmanov received 120 votes, Otto Drakenberg - 26.
The nomination of 71-year-old Usmanov became known at the end of October. He was supported by fencing federations of more than 100 countries. Drakenberg's nomination was supported only by Sweden.
Usmanov has been in charge of the FIE since 2008. In November 2021, he was re-elected president of the federation for a new term as the only candidate in the elections. In March 2022, he was suspended from authority due to sanctions imposed against him by the European Union. Since then, Emmanuel Katsiadakis from Greece has been the acting president of the FIE.
The Ukrainian Fencing Federation voiced outrage at the decision of the International Fencing Federation Congress to elect Alisher Usmanov as president.
The holding of the election of the head of the organization in Usmanov's homeland of Uzbekistan, as well as the "premature distribution by the FIE leadership of a letter of support for Usmanov by more than 100 national federations" indicates a "pre-written scenario," the federation said.
The UFF noted that the organization will take action within the legal framework, as before, when these efforts ensured the participation of Ukrainian athletes in the Olympics and the absence of Russians.
After Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Alisher Usmanov, like many other Russian businessmen and politicians, fell under sanctions from the European Union, the United States, Great Britain, Japan, Canada, Australia and other countries.
In September, the businessman called sanctions against Russian businessmen a "major mistake." He said that he would continue to fight against sanctions and to protect his family, whose members had also been sanctioned.
