Photo by Valery Sharifulin\TASS via Getty Images
This is the second time that the promoter has been arrested in a drug-related case.
Oleg Raevsky, the former promoter and manager of Alexander Emelianenko, has been detained by police for drug trafficking.
Raevsky’s arrest is in relation to a drug trafficking case in 2017, where the promoter was arrested during a controlled transaction set up by the Department of Drug Control in St. Petersburg. Raevsky was caught selling 5.16 grams of white powder, which forensics later determined as cocaine. His buyer had already established an agreement with local authorities and the controlled transaction took place shortly thereafter.
Following the arrest, police seized twenty 5,000 ruble notes, all of which had been marked by the authorities ahead of the transaction. Police also seized a drug paraphernalia such as a leather bag with a spoon, scales, and a loaded gun. This further cemented Raevsky’s guilt.
Though Raevsky was released on bail, he failed to appear in court and was subsequently placed on the federal wanted list and was arrested in absentia by a court in St. Petersburg in a criminal case under Art. 228.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Illegal production, sale or transfer of narcotic drugs”).
“Oleg Raevsky, who is on the federal wanted list, was detained,” law enforcement officials told TASS.
Raevsky owned the Coliseum FC promotion in Russia, which operated until May 2014. He hosted Emelianenko’s most recent fight over three years ago – a TKO loss to Dmitriy Sosnovskiy – and has been vocal in his support of the controversial figure. Following Emelianenko’s 4-and-a-half-year sentence for sexual assault and kidnapping was announced in 2015, Raevsky referred to it as “political persecution.”
“The fact is that there is pressure on the investigation,” Rajewski told Sovsports.ru. “That is a fact. If the process was quiet, Alexander would have probably already gotten a suspended sentence. We see that everything was done to put Alexander in jail.”