The global giant fell into the hands of the Russians. A very dangerous precedent: “Putin’s man”

Inside the Games is one of the most respected media outlets in Olympic sports. It specializes in topical, in-depth and exclusive topics. A site that presents numerous reports from the International Olympic Committee and the World Anti-Doping Agency in recent years. He was the first to mention, among other things: about the Beijing Olympics scandal, where less than two years ago Russian skater Kamila Valeeva was caught doping.

The leader was an assistant to “Putin’s man.”

But now, the “In-Games” links with Russia take on a new meaning. On October 31, the gate fell into the hands of new owners. Officially, Vox Europe Investment Holding, which acquired shares in this medium, has nothing to do with Russia – the company is registered in Hungary. But it was headed by Zana Abdelyan. She was an unofficial assistant to Omar Kremlov, nicknamed “Putin’s Man”, who is currently the president of the International Boxing Association (IBA).

The Kremlin does not even hide its ties with Putin. He became famous not only because he once gave several thousand boxing training shows on Red Square in Moscow. He was previously a promoter for Roy Jones Jr. It is to him that Russian and Belarusian boxers owe the fact that they can still participate in international competitions with full rights to the name of the state, its flag or its national anthem, as they are lured by high prizes financed by Gazprom, the main sponsor of the AIBA. .

A very dangerous precedent

“On the birthday of the Russian oligarch Omar the Kremlin, the final sale of the media platform “Inside The Games” was announced. The new owners, operating on the basis of a strange corporate structure, are old friends and associates of the Kremlin, which is “linked to the Kremlin,” wrote Jens Weinrich in “Investigator.”

The strange structure of the new owners of “Inside The Games” was also described by Mieszko Rajkiewicz on X (formerly Twitter). “The whole thing is serious for me. Why? Well, ladies and gentlemen, we are losing a very good source of information about the Olympic environment and many sporting disciplines. Of course, there will probably still be reports from various international events as before.” However, we can now be sure of That there will be no reliable information,” Rajkevich writes.

“Until now, this portal was respected because it did not evaluate information, but only reported it objectively (in most cases). This was news from every corner of the world. At the same time, this situation also poses one fundamental problem: it may This portal influences the construction of the narrative of the Russians’ return to sports competition in the form before February 24, 2022. Not everyone is aware of this acquisition, and even if they know of the change of owner, information about the Hungarian company will be the last’ information the recipient will receive. “This case also shows that Hungary may now constitute a ‘friendly haven’ for Russians in the EU.”

Sports.ru also wrote about the acquisition of “Inside The Game” and reported, among other things, that the new editor-in-chief of the site is the Spaniard David Rubio – a former journalist of the Catalan newspaper “Sport”. The new owners also commented on the matter and issued a statement. They stressed that they “do not belong to any person or government in any country” and call the current period in the site’s history “transitional.”