The MMA legend’s younger brother, Ivan, has signed up to serve in Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
The younger brother of Fedor & Aleksandr Emelianenko has volunteered to join Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ivan Emelianenko, who previously served in one of the special forces units of Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, is expected to head to the front in the next few days.
“Ivan will be sent as a volunteer under contract. I know that he’s already passed a medical examination,” Aleksandr Emelianenko told Match TV. “When exactly he’ll go, I can’t say.”
Much like his brothers, the 34-year-old Ivan has a background in sambo and was once expected to follow in Fedor and Aleks’ footsteps.
Of the three Emelianenko brothers, Ivan is the only one who has been enlisted to fight in Ukraine. Aleksandr, 41, revealed that he is not “eligible” to fight but would still serve if he is called upon to do so.
“I am not eligible for military service, I wasn’t called up,” said Aleksandr. “If the Motherland calls me to defend the borders, I’ll go. I just didn’t serve in the army. My brother served in the special forces, so he volunteered.”
As for Fedor, the 46-year-old has not been called up as part of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s “partial mobilization” of Russian forces. However, the legendary heavyweight fighter expressed surprise over the sight of tens of thousands of Russians fleeing their homeland to avoid being drafted.
“For me personally, it was a great discovery and a slight shock when you read the news in our country, what is happening in the military registration and enlistment offices and that people are fleeing the draft,” Emelianenko, who served in the Russian army between 1995-7, first as a military firefighter before becoming a member of the Tank Division near Nizhny Novgorod, told Championat.