Sanctioned Russian Tycoon Is Back to Lead World Fencing Body
- Billionaire Usmanov was suspended from sports body in 2022
- Russian sanctioned by US, EU after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine
Alisher Usmanov
Source: Bloomberg
Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov was elected as president of the International Fencing Federation on Saturday, returning to the job he left after being sanctioned by the US and the European Union over Russia’s full-scale invasion on Ukraine.
Usmanov, 71, a former competitive fencer, ran the Lausanne, Switzerland-based federation, known as FIE, from 2008 and donated millions of dollars to support the sport. He suspended his duties in March 2022, citing sanctions against him, while pleading to fight in the courts against “defamatory allegations.”