The “alliance” of Russia and Ukraine in basketball Monaco

After the Russian invasion, war is raging in Ukraine, but luckily for the team, a Russian and a Ukrainian work together harmoniously – a surprise in this year’s EuroLeague. After all, the Principality of Monaco is very far from the scene of military operations.

Russia’s Alexei Fedorizhev and Ukraine’s Sergei Diadetsko have much more in common than separating their two countries. Above all, the Monaco basketball team, with whom they have been living together since January 2022.

A few days after the Russian invasion, both businessmen sat smiling in front of the officials of the Salle Gaston Medicin and watched Monaco triumph over Fenerbahce 92-78. The war doesn’t seem to affect their cooperation.

After all, they didn’t leave much behind. The first left the Soviet Union in 1987 and has a Uruguayan passport, the second (Dianecko) was assassinated in 2012 when he left Donetsk to continue his business in Monaco. Much has been said about Dianetsko’s departure from Ukraine. Also that the assassination attempt on him was directed by him!

But let’s take them one by one.

Born on 11/18/1970 in Donetsk, the Sergei Vladimirovich Diantezko became known for two things. Firstly, for the creation and collapse of Rodovid Bank, and secondly, for his love of basketball and the creation of the Donetsk basketball team. He has loved basketball since the days of the Soviet Union, when he got up close and personal with Vladimir Tachenko and Saronas Martsoulionis.

He invested a lot of money in Donetsk BC, which he took out of the third national division and made it the champion of Ukraine and brought it to the “8” of the Eurocup when it was ruled out by Jonas Valanciunas’ Lithuanian Rita in the 2011/12 season .

Back then Donetsk featured Prometheus’ Lipovi, Doron Perkins, who passed Olympiakos, and Ramel Curry, who wore the Panathinaikos shirt. Coach is the Spaniard Berocal, assistant to Dusko Ivanovic at Panathinaikos and Bartzokas at Barcelona.

Dianetsko has set his sights on the EuroLeague and established basketball academies in Ukraine, most notably Donetsk, which also won the relevant EuroLeague tournaments. But this year Rodovid Bank faced a profitability problem, with the result that it was bailed out by government intervention and depositors’ money took flight.

On March 19, 2012, a Mercedes driven by a Ukrainian businessman was murdered. Police counted 26 bullets in the damaged car and Dianetsko miraculously survived. His enemies, who had lost millions, had become too many. Some argue that the attempt was “staged” by him to prepare the ground for his departure from Ukraine.

It’s hard to believe when you consider that since then Dianetsko has always been followed by two bodyguards, who also accompanied her boss when he wanted to lift the Eurocup. Because he never took off his bulletproof vest, which he supposedly always wears under his well-ironed shirts.

In Monaco, where he settled in 2013, Dianetsko was directly involved in the principality’s basketball team, which, like Donetsk, played in the third national division of France. Two years later he took over as President and Monaco slowly built… better teams. He rose to LNB, clinched the title twice, played in the FIBA ​​​​BCL and finally won the Eurocup!

The entrance of Fedorishev

Last September, Monaco sent a warning signal to everyone that it will not be an easy re-enlightened team having fun in their first year in the EuroLeague. The announcement of the takeover of Mike James, who lost his job in the NBA, shook the waters. What upset her? It caused a storm. The Principality’s team gave Natural 5 $1.4 million and, as it turns out, had high ambitions.

Incidentally, James had chosen Monaco as the next stop of his career in Europe when speaking on the Mindaugas Kuzminska podcast. Some people thought he was joking. The exact opposite was the case.

Seven months later, Team Roca has 15 wins in 30 games, or (if we don’t count the results of the Russian teams) 11 in 25. It was one of the teams that didn’t want the total deduction of the results with the Russians. against whom he more or less had an impressive 4-1. Even so, owning one is out of reach for the average person.

James is the star of Monaco with 16.3 pp and 5.6 assists, after of course making sure to “eat” coach Jestan Mitrovic, with whom he had come into conflict on a number of occasions, in front of the television cameras.

His successor Sasa Obradovic worked in Donetsk ten years ago and knows him very well. Dianecko. The Ukrainian businessman was also looking for a strong ally. He found the right person in Alexei Fedorishev. The Russian billionaire ($1 billion in personal wealth, ranks among the 100 richest people in Russia) is no stranger, as the company FEDCOM has been the permanent sponsor of the principality’s football kit for 25 years.

Who is Fedorishev? Fifteen years older than him Dianecko Born on August 3, 1955, he played football for Dinamo Moscow’s second team as well as for a notorious Ukrainian side in his youth. In 1987 he decided to leave the Soviet Union and in 1994, as a resident of Monaco, founded Fedcom Invest, which became the leading importer of fertilizers and sulfur from Russia to Europe.

Within ten years he acquires a large fortune and all sorts of rumors start. In 1997, the Monaco Police launched a five-year investigation. A Fedcom employee has been sentenced to six months in prison for forging his passport. Police are looking for company links with Ukrainian woman Leonit Minin, who is accused of arms smuggling and trafficking.

The investigation was completed in 2002 without proving anything reprehensible to Fedorishev, whose company is now growing rapidly and starting to do business around the world. At the beginning of the 21st century, he is already a sponsor of the Monaco football shirt and proposes a $100 million investment to become a major shareholder of the team.

The deal is said to have been broken by Prince Rainier (Albert’s father) himself, who had doubts about the legitimacy of the Russian tycoon’s operations. Fedorishev was not intimidated. He returned to his homeland and revealed he was willing to bid $150m for Dynamo Moscow’s rebirth.

He became a key member of the Russian team (formerly a police team), spent many millions on transfers (including Giourkas Seitaridis) but was impatient for the club’s progress. In 2006, Dinamo took 8th place in the standings, Fedorishev gradually lost interest and finally left the company in 2007, leaving a “fess” of about 20 million.

His name returned to prominence last January when the Dianecko announced the sale of 46.5% stake in Monaco BC to the 66-year-old Russian businessman, who has also opened offices in Ukraine as his company controls the port of Yuzhny in Odessa.

“I knew that day would come one day. Roca Team is my fifth child and today the child I gave everything to is ready to spread its wings. When you create this project and it grows so fast and so happily, tomorrow can only be wonderful. Thanks to Alexei Fedorishev who has the desire and enthusiasm to continue this work“he said Dianecko.

Fedorishev became the team’s president and said that he was strongly inspired by the vision of a great Monaco basketball player. THE Dianecko kept the vice-president’s position for himself, while in the group the Ukrainian element is strong. One of Sasa Obradovic’s assistants, Sergei Gladir, is Ukrainian (he played basketball until 2019), as is the team’s general manager, Oleksy Gefimov (just 35 years old).

And everyone has to coexist with the Russian major shareholder and president, who, however, hasn’t had a Russian passport since 2006. And we said the war in Ukraine is far from over for the people of Monaco.