Putin, Rotenberg removed from all positions on Judo’s governing body

FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a judo training session at the Yug-Sport sport and training complex in the Black sea resort of Sochi, Russia, February 14, 2019. Sputnik/Mikhael Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS

Russian President Vladimir Putin and a Russian businessman have been removed from all positions in the International Judo Federation (IJF), the sport’s governing body said, in the latest sporting rebuke following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The decision, announced in a brief statement, comes after Putin, a black belt who has co-authored the book titled “Judo: History, Theory, Practice”, was suspended as IJF honorary president last week.

“The International Judo Federation announces that Mr Vladimir Putin and Mr Arkady Rotenberg have been removed from all positions held in the International Judo Federation,” it said.

Billionaire businessman Arkady Rotenberg had been on the IJF Executive Committee as a development manager since 2013.

The federation did not mention Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but it said on Feb. 27 it was suspending Putin as honorary IJF president “in light of the ongoing war conflict in Ukraine”.

Putin was also stripped of his honorary taekwondo black belt conferred in 2013 by World Taekwondo and a FINA Order, awarded to him in 2014 by swimming’s global body.

Since the beginning of what Putin has called “a special military operation” in Ukraine, Russian and Belarusian teams and athletes have found themselves frozen out from international competitions across sports.

Belarus has been a key staging area for Russia’s invasion of its neighbor.

The IJF also canceled a May 20-22 Grand Slam event in Kazan, Russia.

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