Umar Kremlev, left, has been replaced as Russian Boxing Federation secretary general by Kirill Shchekutyev, right, after he was elected President of AIBA ©RBF

Umar Kremlev has been replaced as general secretary of the Russian Boxing Federation (RBF) by Kirill Shchekutyev following his election as President of the International Boxing Association (AIBA).

Shchekutyev, 26, had previously been the deputy general secretary of the RBF for professional boxing.

He was the only candidate at an Election Congress held online and was elected unanimously by the 85 regional boxing federations who make up the RBF.

"I am grateful for the trust placed in me by the Supreme Supervisory Board, the Executive Committee and the boxing community of our country," Shchekutyev said following his election.

"My main task now is to preserve and increase the success achieved by our Federation over the past four years.

"The Russian Boxing Federation has been recognised as the best national federation for several years in a row, so the bar has been set high.

"I will make every effort to keep boxing in our country developing even faster.

"I am ready for dialogue and suggestions from colleagues who work for the benefit of Russian sports."

Kremlev has decided to step down from a post he had held since February 2017 after being chosen to lead AIBA at its Congress last month.

Kremlev, however, will retain his position on the Executive Committee at the RBF.

Umar Kremlev has claimed his successor as secretary general, Kirill Shchekutyev, has inherited a "golden federation" ©RBF
Umar Kremlev has claimed his successor as secretary general, Kirill Shchekutyev, has inherited a "golden federation" ©RBF

"We accepted him into a boxing family, brought up and prepared him, now he is ready to work fully as a sports functionary, protecting the interests of athletes," Kremlev said. 

"Kirill will continue to develop the already established vector.

"We need to make boxing the most popular sport. 

"Now it is from the Boxing Federation of Russia that they take an example in the world. 

"If the boxers have entrusted him with a gold federation, then he must make a diamond out of it."

Following his election, Shchekutyev revealed that the RBF budget for the next year will be RUB3.5 billion (£3 million/$5 million/€4 million) – the same as last year.

"The budget still depends on the amount of contributions to international organisations for holding events," Shchekutyev told TASS.

"The budget for 2020 was like this, because we paid quite a significant amount for hosting the World Cup in Russia.

"This year, such large payments are not provided, but a huge amount of money is provided for the opening schools and halls."