– I thought that this is probably something they will use against me. There are many dirty election campaigns going on, said Besseberg in court. He had then been asked about a number of offers which he refused, when he was president of the International Biathlon Union. Besseberg, who was biathlon president for 25 years, is charged with gross corruption. He pleads not guilty after the indictment. Several hunting trips are central to the indictment, especially in Russia. But on Wednesday, a number of offers he refused also became a topic in court. This applied to, among other things: Eurovision Song Contest Hunting trip in Germany. Hunting trip in Finland World Cup in ice hockey He says that such invitations could come from, among others, the Broadcasting Union in Europe, government officials, biathlete summits and other sports presidents. – Did you decline hunting invitations when these could be in conflict with eligibility requirements or support for this? asked the prosecutor. – I have done that many times, but of course with a nice apology, said Besseberg in court. Besseberg’s interest in hunting is well known. Here from a hunting trip in Siberia in 2000. The picture was therefore taken on a hunting trip many years before the period the indictment applies to. But this hunting trip has become a topic several times in court. Photo: Jacob Lund’s photo archive Declined hunting in Africa – I have even been invited to hunt in Africa. It’s the last place I would go hunting, Besseberg said. But throughout large parts of the day, several of the hunting trips he took part in in Russia were the topic. In the indictment against him, goods and services, including hunting trips and prostitutes, offered by Russian government officials are central. On these trips, a number of animals were felled, including wild boar and maral deer. – I understand both when it comes to these cases of hunting and the so-called prostitutes. That they are trying to link this to the fact that these are invitations I have received from Russian government officials so that it could influence me in a way that enabled me to do things beneficial for the Russians, said Besseberg before continuing: – I have to say that that I will strongly dispute, but I do not dispute the facts, that I shot these animals. Among other things, Besseberg was asked about several hunting trips together with the Russian governor Vladimir Yakushev in the Tyumen region. It was to the place Pervomayskaya, which is referred to as the governor’s hunting ground. There were also several of the tops in Russian biathlon. The Russian network around Besseberg These are Russian biathlete peaks and powerful Russian government officials the trial has told have a connection to Besseberg: Sergej Kushchenko Secretary General of the Russian Biathlon Union (RBU) from 2010 to 2014. Was one of several successful and wealthy individuals that Russia put in charge positions in sports leading up to the Olympics in Sochi. Was also vice-president of the International Biathlon Federation in the same period. Besseberg said that he must have been at Kushchenko’s house and there saw an enormous clock cabinet, which, as Besseberg put it, must have contained clocks worth many millions of kroner. Besseberg received a watch worth NOK 195,000 from Kushchenko during the WC in 2011. Besseberg believes Kushchenko said this was a private gift. Besseberg believes it is a personal gift and not a gift from Kushchenko as a representative of the Russian Federation. It is also a theme in the trial whether Kushchenko was a person who organized women to Besseberg in Russia. Vladimir Yakushev: The governor of the Tyumen region from 2005 to 2018. The area is rich in oil and gas. Have invited Besseberg on hunting trips in the area. Here, several other top Russian biathletes and a person who will later testify in the trial have taken part in a hunting and fishing trip. According to the indictment, Besseberg must have hunted maral deer in this area. The hunting trips here form part of the basis for the indictment against Besseberg. Aleksander Kravtsov: Former biathlete president and central to the preparations of Russian athletes for the Olympics in Sochi. Extensive Russian cheating was later revealed. Kravtsov has been sentenced to seven years in prison in Russia. The commission that investigated Besseberg and biathlon on behalf of the International Biathlon Federation never received an answer from Kravtsov. Aleksander Tikhonov: Russian biathlon champion for many years. Was one of the most powerful in biathlon until 2010, but has since also been in the circle around the biathlon peaks in Russia. Besseberg has called Tikhonov a “helpless” person several times during the trial. Besseberg has regretted that he did nothing about what his general secretary Nicole Resch perceived as a bribery attempt with a jewelery box from Tikhonov in 2009. Tikhonov is said to have tried to stop the investigation into three Russian doping cases. Tikhonov is also said to have given a Ulysses Nardin watch to Besseberg in 2013 or 2014. But according to Besseberg, he is said to have objected to accepting the watch. Nevertheless, the watch from Tikhonov was seized from Besseberg in April 2018. Jevgenij Redkin: Former Olympic champion in biathlon. One of the World Cup organizers in Khanty-Mansiysk. Actually from Belarus. Telephone conversations between Redkin and Besseberg are part of the wiretapping material of Besseberg’s phone, which will be played in court. Viktor Majgurov: The current Russian biathlete president has been active as a leader since he was active. Among other things, won a medal behind Ole Einar Bjørndalen during the Olympics in Salt Lake City in 2002. He must have probably been on one of Besseberg’s hunting trips with the governor of Tjumen. Before the trial, Majgurov replied to news that Besseberg did not defend the interests of the Russian Biathlon Union (RBU). He has not answered questions from news about RBU organized prostitutes for Besseberg. Mikhail Prokhorov Former Russian biathlete president and oligarch. Has also had ownership in the basketball team Brooklyn Nets in the NBA in the USA. Withdrew after the Olympics in Sochi, when Russia won fewer gold medals than he had aimed for. Two female Russian athletes were also caught doping before the Games. Was in 2021 rated by Bloomberg to be among the 150 richest people in the world. Ran as a candidate in the Russian presidential election in 2011. The hunting trips in the Tyumen region, which are mentioned in the indictment, took place in 2013, 2015 and 2018. These hunting trips took place both before and after the revelation of the extensive Russian doping scandal in the Sochi Olympics in 2014. Even after the doping scandal was uncovered, he took part in a hunt with Russian biathlete tops – Did you want to go on tour with these at this time? asked the prosecutor. – I have to say that going with Majgurov, a board member with me, I don’t find that strange, says Besseberg. The then Russian biathlete president Alekander Kravtsov was also there. Besseberg says he did not know that Kravtsov was going to be there. He believes it gave him an opportunity to have a few words with the Russian leaders about the inflamed doping case, which had shaken the world. – As I also did down there, as far as I remember, said Besseberg. Hunting trips also elsewhere in Europe are the subject of the trial: Hunting trips also elsewhere in Europe are the subject of the trial. Here is Anders Besseberg with a mouflon. Those animals live in central parts of Europe, such as Austria and the Czech Republic. In May 2013, Besseberg also wrote a letter of thanks to Yakushev in which he thanked, among other things, that the governor had participated in the development of the stadium in Tyumen. “Besides this, fishing and the hunting trip with you to your hunting area is both interesting and a success. For the rest of my life, I will take good memories with me,” the letter to the Russian governor says. Yakushev has since also been a minister under Vladimir Putin. – Why didn’t you decline the invitation from Yakushev, asked the prosecutor. – No, I saw no reason to, answered Besseberg. He claims that the hunting invitation from the governor first came “there and then”, while he was already on a mission in Tyumen in Russia as biathlon president. He believes pictures of borrowed hunting equipment prove this. Vladimir Yakushev, governor of Tyumen and president Anders Besseberg of the International Biathlon Union during the World Cup in Tyumen in 2018. Back: Martin Fourcade (biathlon). In March this year, he also hunted in the Tyumen area. Photo: Sergey Rusanov / Shutterstock – Should be a little careful Besseberg stated that he, for example, refused hunting trips from government officials from various places, if they were relevant applicants for, for example, the WC. – I thought that you should be a little careful so that no one has reason to misperceive what we do externally, said Besseberg. He thought the situation with the invitations from Yakushev was completely different. Viktor Maigurov was also on these hunting trips, who, according to Besseberg, is a very good friend. The current Russian biathlete president, Viktor Majgurov, has taken part in hunting and fishing trips with Besseberg. He has been clear to news that Besseberg did not defend the interests of the Russian Biathlon Union. Photo: SipaUSA Besseberg pointed out that Tyumen had already been awarded a World Cup race in 2018, when he was on his first trip with Yakushev. – Were there no other questions where Yakushev might be interested in having an extra good relationship with you? – I see no other reasons. But you’ll have to ask Yakushev about that in that case. Whether he had any ulterior motives, Besseberg said in court. Later, in 2016, Tyumen would also apply for the world championship. Suspected He said he suspected that most national biathlon presidents and important government officials would like to have a good relationship with him. – They would like to have World Cups and big events, but people knew which line I held, and how events were allocated in the IBU, said Besseberg. Court order from Buskerud District Court. Besseberg does not want to be photographed during the trial. Photo: Ane Hem / NTB He pointed out that he paid for the trips to various hunting trips out of his own pocket. He says the same applies to staying in hotels on such trips. – But I didn’t pay for any hunting licenses or felling fees for the animals. And neither for the animals that had a trophy, which was sent to my home, says Besseberg. Among other things, it concerned a box with a stuffed trophy of the head of a maral deer after a hunting trip in Russia. It was finally driven up to Holmenkollen, before he mounted the trophy on the wall at home. – I was very surprised by that, when that head appeared, said Besseberg. – I kept it. I have never denied it, said Besseberg, who confirmed that he himself had not paid for the trophy. – Did you think along the way that it had value? – Absolutely not. He says that he has never checked what a hunting trip in Russia is worth, before the claimed hunting trips. Besseberg himself believes that he is the one referring to this photo from a helicopter hunt in March 2000 in Siberia. He says it was part of a standard framework program from the organiser, which IBU summits could attend. This is a picture from many years before the period to which the indictment applies. Photo: Jacob Lund’s photo archive Sorry about the Russia case The relationship with Yakushev was also highlighted in another way. In 2014, the Bulgarian biathlon leader Ventzeslav Ilijev was banned from office for four years. It emerged in court that Russian biathlete leaders tried to bribe Iliyev by offering weapons, ammunition and free training sessions, if they supported Russia’s candidates for Congress in 2014. Besseberg says he was notified that the Russian Aleksander Tikhonov ran a “violent election campaign”. – Vote buying was a problem in sports, not just the IBU, said Besseberg in his explanation. Besseberg was asked by the prosecutor if he saw this as a criminal act, and who actually offered this? – You can ask about that. It is not right to speculate, but Tikhonov worked very hard to win the congress that year, says Besseberg. According to the e-mail, it was Tyumen governor Vladimir Yakushev and Russian biathlete president Aleksandr Kravtsov who had been in contact with the various federations. The prosecutor wondered why no action was taken against them. – That case was not pursued as it should have been. We should send it straight over to the legal committee, said Besseberg in court.
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Rejected offers for Eurovision, Football World Cup and Africa hunt – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcast schedule
