The most authoritative minister in the world
Heads Russian sport
The appointment of 33-year-old Podolsk wrestler Boris Ivanyuzhenkov as Minister of Sports went quite unnoticed. Meanwhile, this is a significant event. Until now, not a single person listed in police databases as “the authority of the criminal community” has held such a high position.

All the promises of the president and the government not to let criminals into power remain empty words. Here's just one example.
From the operational dossier: “Ivanyuzhenkov Boris Viktorovich, born in 1966, native of Podolsk. Right hand and close friend of the leader of the Podolsk organized crime community Sergei Lalakin (nickname - Luchok). Nickname - Rotan. Responsible for financial flows. 09.14.89 A criminal case was opened against Ivanyuzhenkov under Article 117, Part 3 (rape). The case was later closed. On 08/29/92, a criminal case was opened against Ivanyuzhenkov under Article 218, Part 1 (illegal possession of weapons).
This is the Minister of Sports. A new ministry that appeared in the government of Sergei Stepashin.
The appointment of Ivanyuzhenkov does not at all contradict the law - after all, an operational matter will not add up to anything. Moreover, as Ivanyuzhenkov himself admitted in an interview with the Kommersant newspaper, Stepashin, the former head of the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, found him himself: “I called, we talked with him, and as a result he offered me to take this post. I thought for four days, after which he gave his consent." In a word, it is difficult to give an unambiguous assessment to this appointment, which was actively lobbied by the famous wrestler Alexander Karelin (adviser to the head of government on sports).
The operatives who followed Ivanyuzhenkov’s Podolsk career commented on this fact as follows: representatives of a completely new generation of the Russian elite, who grew up and became stronger in the era of “general lawlessness” in the late 80s and early 90s, are entering the power structures. People surfacing on this wave are, on the one hand, supported by criminal structures, and on the other, by state authorities. And these are now the two most powerful forces in Russia.
Read the political biography of Boris Ivanyuzhenkov and an interview with him in the new issue of the Kommersant-Vlast magazine.

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 156 dated 08/31/1999, p. 11