The Project publication published an investigation about businessman Umar Kremlev, president of International Boxing Association (IBA) and the former head of the Russian Boxing Federation. The material describes him as “the main player in the Russian bookmaker market.”
In 2017, the supervisory board of the Boxing Federation was headed by Alexey Rubezhnoy, deputy director of the FSO and head of the Presidential Security Service (SBP). At the same time, Kremlev was appointed General Secretary, who had previously headed the Patriot agency from the Moscow region, which was involved in organizing fights.
According to the Project’s interlocutors, the financial situation of the federation, where at that time there were delays in salaries for employees, after this has improved, and prize money for boxers has increased significantly.
Until 2010, the Kremlin had a different last name — Lutfulloev. The “project” connects the name change with the fact that the businessman had two convictions at that time. His former business partner told the publication that the Kremlin “was familiar” with the leaders of the Podolsk organized crime group Sergei Lalakin and ex-Minister of Sports Boris Ivanyuzhenkov.
According to Project sources, Kremlev and Rubezhny were introduced by Alexander Zaldastanov (“Surgeon”), the head of the Night Wolves biker club, of which both were members. Since then, Kremlev has told his acquaintances that Rubezhnoy married the sister of his first wife. The head of the SBP himself organized meetings for him with Putin and “lobbied Putin” for a number of decisions in his favor.
In 2019, the government appointed the Kremlin and VTB Sports Lotteries company as the operator of the National Lottery organized by the Ministry of Finance, allowing it sale of tickets and distribution of winnings.
In 2022-2023, the Kremlin began to control three large bookmakers through proxies — Fonbet, Pari and Liga Bet. In 2023, they accounted for 51% of the total revenue of the legal betting market, notes the Project.
Firms associated with the Kremlin bought a stake in the Mobile Card service from the people of Senator Suleiman Kerimov and Deputy Magomed Gadzhiev after their quarrel. Through it, users transferred money to bookmakers for bets and received winnings. In August 2021, Putin appointed the company as the single operator of bookmaker bets in Russia. 51% there belong to the Kremlin and legal entities associated with it, and 49% belong to VTB Bank.
At the same time, the government appointed Alexey Grachev, a functionary associated with the Kremlin, as the general director of the “Unified Gambling Regulator”, which includes all bookmakers and which collects contributions from them for sports federations.
In the spring of 2024, Kremlin business partner Roman Antonov, the head of a single operator of bookmaker bets, became the general director of the Rolf car dealer of former State Duma deputy Sergei Petrov. Putin first transferred the assets of Rolf to the temporary management of the Federal Property Management Agency, and then the court, at the request of the prosecutor’s office, nationalized the company. The Kremlin, in an interview with Kommersant, spoke about plans to buy out Rolf in the near future.