President of Bashkortostan: Funding of Salavat Yulaev takes about €40 million per year

President of Bashkortostan Rustem Khamitov has spoken about the financial situation at Salavat Yulaev Ufa, saying Ural charitable foundation, controlled by his predecessor Murtaza Rakhimov, is trying to exert influence on the club’s management.

«The funding of Salavat Yulaev during the the last year and a half has been performed by charitable foundations. Before that the team was financed by Bashneft [oil company – Sports.ru].»

«Does it mean there is no state budget money out there now?»

«Yes. There is no money from the state budget. But we should understand that these charitable foundations have been crated as a result of sale of republican property, e.g. factories formerly owned by the republic. Therefore, it isn’t a complete charity, it is more like funds which should belong or in fact belong to the public. A part of these funds is being spent on hockey.

«The direction of the charitable foundation today is performed by the former president of the republic, Murtaza Rakhimov. Actually, I didn’t interfere in the hockey club’s affairs during the last year that I’ve been working here. Especially, in the funding issues. Frankly, I even don’t know how much do the players cost there. Or rather did not know until recently.»

«And how much does it cost in total per year?»

«It’s about 1.5 billion roubles [€37.5 million – Sports.ru] per year.»

«For a hockey team?!»

«Yes, yes. About 1.5 billion roubles. There are teams even more expensive in the Russia, but there are also those who are much cheaper. It’s more like a top-5 figure, but not the biggest.

«For some reasons hockey has started to get politicized lately. There have begun to appear some requirements that if certain persons are not removed from the team’s management, the funding will be discontinued. If some particular persons aren’t removed from hockey, there will be no funding any more. And instead of the removed ones you should employ these ones, etc. That already starts to carry some political tinge,» Khamitov stated on air for the Echo of Moscow radio.

It should be noted that Murtaza Rakhimov recently stated that Ural charitable foundation had not been threatening to stop the funding of Salavat Yulaev, but only demanded a proper audit that would ensure a goof level of transparency in spending.