Judo federation removes titles from Putin, Russian oligarch

PTI, Mar 7, 2022, 4:17 PM IST

Budapest: The International Judo Federation has removed the titles and jobs Vladimir Putin and a long-time Kremlin-supporting oligarch held at the organization.

“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,” the Budapest-based governing body said in a statement late Sunday.

Putin’s honorary presidency of the IJF was suspended last week with the organization citing “the ongoing war conflict in Ukraine.” The Russian president is an avid judoka and attended the sport at the 2012 London Olympics.

Rotenberg is a long-time friend of Putin from their home city of St. Petersburg and was a member of the IJF executive committee as “development manager.”