The President of the Russian Olympic Committee resigned

The president of the Russian Olympic Committee (COR), Stanislav Pozdniakov, announced Tuesday his resignation after six years in officepart where Russian sport is excluded from international competitions due to the war in Ukraine.

“The geopolitical challenges facing our country dictate the need to optimize and centralize the management of key areas, including elite sports,” Pozdniakov said in a statement posted on the website of COR.

Pozdniakov was “convinced” that on November 7 the executive committee of the COR will accept his resignation and call early elections.

“To further strengthen the Russian Olympic movement, suitable conditions are now in place, including economic ones, for a change of leader and team,” he explained.

Pozdniakov strongly criticized the International Olympic Committee for preventing the Slavic team from fully competing at the Olympic Games in Paris, where only 16 Russian athletes attended, winning a silver medal in tennis.

“The IOC from the beginning chose the side of the political conflict, which in itself contradicts its mission, and continues to fulfill political orders to isolate Russian sports,” he said in March on his Telegram channel.

He was also very critical of Russian athletes, especially tennis players.who agreed to compete in the French capital as neutrals, that is, without a flag or anthem.

In May, the Minister of Sports, Oleg Matitsin, was also replaced by the nationalist leader of the Siberian region of Khabarovsk, Mikhail Degtiariov.

Matitsin also condemned the participation of Russian Olympians as Neutral Individual Athletes (AIN), but assured that Moscow cannot “close itself” and damage its relations with international federations.

Russia has tried to promote alternative Olympics, but its main bet, the World Friendship Games, had to be postponed until 2025 because many of the athletes from invited foreign countries refused to compete.