The head of the RFB Alexander Krasnenkov resigned

Personnel

Ex-RFB President Alexander Krasnenkov failed to establish contact with the basketball community
Photo: RIA NOVOSTI

The President of the Russian Basketball Federation (RBF), Alexander Krasnenkov, resigned yesterday, unable to cope with the split that arose within the federation. However, as the ex-president of the RBF himself assures, the reasons for his departure lie outside the basketball plane. It is possible that his decision was influenced by the difficult relationship that developed between the RFB and the VTB United League, headed by the head of the Russian Presidential Administration Sergei Ivanov. The circle of successors to Mr. Krasnenkov, it is possible, will be determined today at the executive committee of the RFB. One of the candidates for the vacant post is Yulia Anikeeva, currently deputy general director of the VTB United League.

Alexander Krasnenkov announced his resignation yesterday after he failed to assemble the executive committee of the RFB for the second time in less than a month. Commenting on his decision, Mr. Krasnenkov said that he was not afraid of difficulties, but noted that “things outside of basketball” were involved here. Alexander Krasnenkov did not provide details, not ruling out the possibility that he would talk about them later. He also noted that he had previously notified the Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation Vitaly Mutko of his decision, who, according to the ex-president of the RFB, dissuaded him. “Vitaly Mutko told me: “You are a coward. I have the same mess in football. Let’s fight together,” ITAR-TASS quotes Mr. Krasnenkov. Apparently, the minister’s call went unheard.

The fragility of Alexander Krasnenkov’s position as president of the RFB became obvious after only three of the 11 members attended the meeting of the organization’s executive committee scheduled for June 7. Eight absentees, among whom were, for example, the president of BC CSKA Andrei Vatutin, the head of the coaching council of the RBF Evgeniy Gomelsky, the honorary president of the RBF Sergei Chernov, expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that important issues were not on the agenda of the executive committee - such as, for example, a discussion of the fiasco of the women's the Russian national team at the European Championship (the team did not leave the group and, therefore, did not qualify for the 2014 World Cup), as well as the appointment of a reporting and election conference. Later, Alexander Krasnenkov set a new date for the executive committee - July 1. However, eight oppositionists announced in advance that they would gather on July 2, and did not come to yesterday’s meeting either. In addition, the RFB coaching council spoke out against Alexander Krasnenkov, accusing the latter of not taking into account the opinion of experts.

Finally, the interregional public organization "Sports Initiative", registered less than a year ago, suddenly sent letters to the Ministry of Justice and the Prosecutor General's Office with a request to check the activities of the RBF for compliance with the law "On Sports". Its latest edition provides that federations represented at the Olympics must, firstly, elect their heads for four years (in the RFB the president is elected for five years), and secondly, hold reporting and election conferences no later than six months after the end Games (this didn’t happen in the RBF either). True, exactly the same situation exists, say, in the Russian Football Union, but few people seem to care about this.

It cannot be ruled out that such active pressure on Alexander Krasnenkov, for whom the reporting and election conference of the RFB voted unanimously at the end of 2010, is connected with the contradictions he had with the leaders of the VTB United League - a tournament that actually replaced the Russian Championship. Let us note that the president of the VTB United League is the head of the presidential administration of the Russian Federation, Sergei Ivanov.

The essence of the contradictions was that the VTB United League wanted to obtain the rights to host the Russian Championship, which belonged to the RBF. However, the parties failed to reach an agreement. According to Mr. Krasnenkov, the problem was that the league wanted to abandon the limit on foreign players, cut off remote regions and youth teams from the tournament. Sources in the VTB United League, in turn, argued that the problem was money. Thus, Deputy General Director of the VTB United League Yulia Anikeeva noted that the league is ready to pay the RBF 20 million rubles. per year, while “the federation wants much more.” In addition, Mr. Krasnenkov was charged with the fact that he conducted business based primarily on economic considerations. “This person doesn’t care where to sit - whether on a chimney (Alexander Krasnenkov worked as a top manager in various structures, one way or another connected with Gazprom, for a total of about ten years - Kommersant ) or to manage a hotel,” noted , for example, Honored Coach of Russia Sergei Elevich. “Krasnenkov’s team did not listen to the opinion of experts. They all consider themselves great professionals, but in reality they do not understand anything about basketball.”

Indirect evidence that it was the confrontation with the VTB United League that cost Mr. Krasnenkov his chair is the fact that one of the contenders for the post of head of the RFB is now named Yulia Anikeeva. In particular, Leonid Evropeytsev, a member of the RFB executive committee, mentioned her as a likely successor to Alexander Krasnenkov. According to him, he heard about a number of candidates - and among them was Ms. Anikeeva. “The option is interesting. A woman has not yet headed the RFB. But why not?” - he said.

Mr. Evropeytsev also added that the reporting and election conference of the RFB, at which the new head of the organization will be elected, will most likely take place in August.

Afsati Jusoity

The President was pushed off the floor