The main contender for the post of president of the Ukrainian Football Association (UAF), Andrei Shevchenko, will make Leonid Ashkenazy his first deputy, reports sport.ua. According to media reports, if Shevchenko wins the elections, he will initiate the nomination of 60-year-old Ashkenazi for the post of first vice president.
Journalists clarify that there is preliminary information that Andrei Nikolaevich intends to reduce the number of vice-presidents to two, and the number of members of the executive committee will also be significantly reduced. However, these personnel issues are still at the discussion stage.
The extraordinary reporting and election Congress of the UAF is scheduled to take place on January 25, 2024.
Ashkenazi served as vice-president of FC Dynamo (Kyiv) until January 2022. After the start of the full-scale invasion, the functionary illegally tried to leave for Moldova. On December 26, 2022, border guards confiscated Ashkenazi’s permission to leave the country (since he was of mobilization age), mobile phone and passport, but did not arrest him.
On February 24 of this year, the publication “Ukrainian Pravda” published an investigation indicating Ashkenazi’s connection with the Russian criminal group “Luzhnikovskoe”. Ashkenazi lived for free in Kyiv at the Premier Palace for more than two months. The hotel belongs to the Premier hotel group, which is owned by Natalya Selivanova, the common-law wife of one of the leaders of the “Luzhnikov group” close to the Kremlin, Mikhail Voevodin.
The unofficial owners are Russians Alexander Babakov, Evgeny Giner (president of CSKA) and Mikhail Voevodin. Babakov is the vice speaker of the Russian State Duma. Voevodin is a thief in law and is under sanctions in Ukraine.
“UP” reports that Ashkenazi, at the height of the war in November 2022, left Ukraine for Spain thanks to a certificate from the Ministry of Defense that he is a specialist in aircraft.
According to UP information, in Marbella, Ashkenazi held meetings with various businessmen, including those of Russian origin. The former vice-president of the Ukrainian Boxing Federation, Dmitry Petrovsky, came to see him, and subsequently drove Russian businessman Ilya Khaikin to the meeting.
The businessman has a British passport and, with the help of Ashkenazi, plans to enter the construction business in Ukraine. According to UP, Ashkenazi’s task in Ukraine is to solve problems associated with running Russian business in our country.
Let us note that the current head of the UAF, Andrei Pavelko, is under investigation for financial fraud and embezzlement of UEFA funds during the construction of a plant for the production of artificial grass, as well as the purchase of products for the then Football Federation of Ukraine. The functionary has been in a pre-trial detention center since June 16.
