Yerevan in Armenia will host the International Boxing Association (IBA) Extraordinary Congress, where a re-run of the vote to elect a President will be held, insidethegames can reveal.
The Extraordinary Congress is due to held on a date to-be-decided between 24 September and 1 October and is set to be IBA's second of the year, following on from the controversial meeting in Istanbul in May.
The Netherlands' Boris van der Vorst was one of five candidates deemed ineligible to stand by the Boxing Independent Integrity Unit (BIIU) on the eve of the election, allowing Russian Umar Kremlev to be re-elected as President unopposed.
The BIIU ruled that van der Vorst and four Board of Directors candidates – New Zealand’s Steve Hartley, Sweden’s Per-Axel Sjöholm and United States' Mike McAtee – had allegedly broken rules on breaches of collaboration between candidates and early campaigning.
But, following an appeal, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that van der Vorst should have been allowed to stand, adding that a formal warning or no sanction at all would have been sufficient.
Shortly after the Istanbul Congress, the International Olympic Committee announced that IBA would again not be in charge of organising the boxing tournament at Paris 2024 after sports director Kit McConnell claimed that "enough was enough".
Van der Vorst had called for the Congress to be held in the Olympic capital Lausanne as a "necessary measure to show commitment to integrity and transparency".
Earlier this week, van der Vorst had written to Armenian Boxing Federation President Ohanes Ovsepian to claim that visa requirements to enter Switzerland should not provide an obstacle to it hosting the event after he challenged the call for Lausanne to stage the Extraordinary Congress.
The Netherlands were among several countries to submit bids, along with an unlikely proposal from Lviv in war-torn Ukraine, but Armenia was chosen following a meeting of the IBA Board of Directors.
"After careful study of proposals from different countries [the Board of Directors] choose Armenia has as a host for the upcoming Congress," Kremlev announced.
"Armenia showed their great organisational skills during EUBC (European Boxing Confederation) Elite Men’s Championships in May this year.
"Government support, accessibility and simplified visa process helped the country to win."
Kremlev had met Armenia's Nikol Pashinyan in Yerevan during those Championships, claiming the "people here love boxing".
But the choice of Armenia, Russia’s only ally in the South Caucasus and which is home to military bases hosting 3,000 Russian troops opposing NATO’s eastern flank, will surprise several at a time many countries have imposed sanctions on Moscow following the invasion of Ukraine.
Russia also officially protects Armenia’s airspace and state borders and is among Vladimir Putin’s closest allies.
Armenia also has a long-running conflict with Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region with the two countries at war as recently as 2020.
Visa requirements for Armenia, though, are fairly simple for travellers from most countries.
It has become increasingly difficult, however, to travel to Armenia from many countries since sanctions were ordered again Aeroflot, Rossiya Airlines and Ural Airlines following the Russian attack on Ukraine.
IBA have promised that the Extraordinary Congress will be live streamed to allow online participation for those who are unable to attend in person.