MOSCOW, June 27, Vasily Bogdanov. Honorary President of the Russian Football Union (RFU) ) Vyacheslav Koloskov said that the decision of the head of the Russian Premier League (RPL) Ashot Khachaturyants to leave his post surprised him. On Monday, it became known that Khachaturyants had resigned as president of the RPL. The head of the Football National League (FNL) Alexander Alaev has been appointed interim. Khachaturyants also holds the position of head of the expert-judging commission under the president of the Russian Football Union (ESK RFU). On June 23, he announced that he would remain in this post. «Honestly, I was surprised by the departure of Khachaturyants. We spoke with him after his appointment, he accepted this position with great enthusiasm. He had a specific content program related to all aspects of the activities of the RPL. Therefore the fact that he leaves without even having time to start implementing it can be called a surprise. I know Khachaturyants as a man of courage, with character, who is not used to giving up business at the beginning of the journey. I can’t say what prompted him to such a decision. We must wait for his statement «, Koloskov said. «Alaev should be recognized as the most optimal candidate for this place. He has tremendous experience in the RFU as general secretary, plus he already works a lot in the FNL. In addition, he has great authority in the UEFA leadership, where he heads one of the committees. So the choice is optimal,» the agency's interlocutor added. and was confirmed in office on 22 November. He was the seventh leader in the history of the RPL after Vitaly Mutko (from 2001 to 2003), Valery Filatov (2003, acting), Evgeny Giner (2003-2004), Yuri Zavarzin (2004-2006), Mikhail Vorontsov (2006- 2007) and Pryadkin (2007-2021).
