Apologies to Medvedev, Karpin's failure to appear and Kiknadze’s fine: what ended the meeting of the RFU ethics committee

One of the main events of the week in Russian football was the meeting of the RFU ethics committee, at which three resonant incidents involving the head coach of Rostov Valery Karpin, as well as the general directors of Zenit and Lokomotiv Alexander Medvedev and Vasily Kiknadze were examined. Based on the results, it was established that they all committed violations in accordance with Articles 3 and 4 of the RFU Ethics Regulation (“Obligations of football entities” and “Responsibility”), for which they received comments and were fined from 100 to 300 thousand rubles.

The most severe penalty was received by Kiknadze, who showed Lokomotiv fans the middle finger during a home match of the 28th round of the Russian championship with Ufa. Subsequently, he said that in this way he reacted to the statements addressed to him by the fans and admitted that he got excited.

“The remark and the largest fine were imposed on Lokomotiv CEO Vasily Kiknadze. Fans are the most important thing in football, so this misconduct deserves the most severe punishment. In addition, such behavior could provoke unrest and lead to more serious consequences, ”the press service of the RFU quoted Vladimir Pilgui, deputy chairman of the ethics committee.

The second in terms of severity were sanctions against Medvedev, who allowed himself to use sloppy remarks about Moscow Spartak. So, after the early victory of Zenit in the RPL, a video appeared on social networks from the team’s locker room, on which forwards Artyom Dziuba and Serdar Azmun imitated sexual intercourse. The official jokingly suggested that in a similar way the football players hinted at the outcome of the semifinal match of the Russian Cup with red and white.

The management of Spartak was outraged by the words of Medvedev, as a result of which the deputy chairman of the club’s board of directors, Sergei Mikhailov, sent a letter to the ethics committee. He expressed the opinion that such jokes are “beyond adequate humor” and called for an assessment of this statement.

“General Director of FC Zenit Alexander Medvedev received a comment and was fined 200 thousand rubles. We believe that managers should not allow themselves to make statements or gestures that are offensive in relation to someone, especially to their colleagues. Therefore, they regarded this as unethical behavior that deserves punishment, ”said Pilgui.

Medvedev participated in the meeting via video link and personally admitted his wrong. As it became known, this is what contributed to the mitigation of punishment.

“We did not take more stringent sanctions, given the fact that Medvedev apologized at the meeting. Alexander admitted that he wanted to make a joke, but the joke was unsuccessful. He repents of this act and will not allow himself in the future to allow himself such behavior that inflicts a rehearsal blow primarily on Zenit, ”said the deputy chairman of the ethics committee.

At the same time, Medvedev himself refused to communicate with the media on this topic, noting that "the decisions of the ethics committee of the RFU are not discussed, but are being implemented."

From the financial point of view, the head coach of Rostov was the least affected, criticizing the RPL leadership after the game with Orenburg. Commenting on the situation with coronavirus in domestic football, Karpin cited the famous quote by ex-coach of the Russian national team Anatoly Byshovets about the "limit of human abomination", and also called the league "Rospotrebnadzor the championship of Russia."

Similar words outraged the head of the RPL Sergei Pryadkin. He considered that Karpin’s words were detrimental to the business reputation of the championship and asked to evaluate the specialist’s statement. True, this only enraged Karpin, who once again harshly answered the head of the league on social networks.

"Wow. It turns out we have the president of the RPL, who cares about the image of the Tinkoff of the Russian Premier League, ”the coach wrote on Instagram.

Karpin himself did not appear at the meeting, and his interests were represented by a lawyer. As a result, it was decided to fine the mentor of “Rostov” for 100 thousand rubles. The organization considered that his statements were incorrect and affected the reputation of the RPL.

“He also made a remark in the future to choose expressions that could not be interpreted in a double sense. Those expressions cited by Karpin (quoting Byshovets. - RT) can be attributed to a rebuke to the RPL, as in this case, ”Pilgui explained.

At the same time, member of the ethics committee Andrei Sozin said that Karpin’s lawyer was quite determined, and the head coach himself did not follow Medvedev’s path.

“The position of the lawyer was tough, she has the right to life. But the representative of Karpin did not apologize and remained unconvinced. But in the words of Valery Georgievich there was no direct insult, therefore the penalty is this, ”the Championship quotes Sozin.