Umar Kremlev (ru: Умар Назарович Кремлёв; born as Umar Nazarovich Lutfuloev on 1 November 1982) is a Russian sports functionary and ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin. He has served as the president of the International Boxing Association (IBA) since 2020. He has been Secretary General and a Member of the Executive Committee of the Boxing Federation of Russia since February 2017. In 2022, IBA members voted against holding an election by 106 votes to 36, allowing Kremlev to remain IBA president.
Under Kremlev's tenure as IBA head, he has heavily marketed himself, moved the body's operations to Russia, suspended Ukraine from competing, and made the Russian state‑owned energy giant Gazprom the IBA's sole sponsor. The IBA's relationship with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) deteriorated under Kremlev's tenure. The IOC decertified the IBA and took control of the boxing competition from the IBA at the 2024 Paris Olympics, just as it had done at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The IOC stated that the IBA had failed to address concerns regarding governance, finance, and corruption.
Since then, Kremlev has emerged as one of the key purveyors of Russian disinformation in international sports. Kremlev has stirred controversy by claiming, falsely and without evidence, that the female boxer Imane Khelif failed her gender test after she defeated a Russian boxer, and has allegedly referred to IOC president Thomas Bach as a "chief sodomite".
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Early life
Kremlev was born on 1 November 1982 in Serpukhov, Moscow region. He took up boxing at the local sports palace, training in his hometown under the guidance of coach Alexei Galeev. He left boxing at the age of 19. Kremlev graduated from the Moscow State Academy of Public Utilities and Construction.
Later life
In 2010, Kremlev officially changed his name from Umar Lutfulloyev. Possible reasons for the name change include trading a Tajik surname for one that sounds more Russian, and attempting to distance himself from a youthful criminal history, which includes a conviction for extortion in 2004 and battery in 2007.
It is claimed that Kremlev worked for a transport company, Transstroykom LLC, and from 2009 to 2012 served as President of the Centre for Strategic Development and Modernisation.
In 2016, with the support of the leadership of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation – in particular Alexey Rubizhny – he became Secretary General and then President of the Boxing Federation of Russia. Kremlev claims that the federation operates on private funds and does not receive financial injections from the government. The federation's main sponsors are the bookmaker Liga Stavok and the National Lottery, which, according to an investigation by Proekt, actually belong to Kremlev himself. Also among the federation's partners was the car dealer Rolf, which, according to the same investigation, also came under Kremlev's control.
Between 2020 and 2023, with the assistance of state structures, Kremlev gained significant control over the Russian betting market. This was facilitated by legislative changes initiated at a high level. In 2020, a law on a single betting accounting centre was passed, and in 2021, a decree by Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed Kremlev's company, TsUPIS, as the sole operator of all bookmaker betting in the country. Kremlev also became the beneficiary of three of Russia's largest betting companies: Fonbet, Pari, and Liga Stavok. In addition, he gained control over the Unified Gambling Regulator, which was created to oversee betting activities.
In 2020, he was elected president of the International Boxing Association (IBA). Kremlev's election caused mixed reactions in the international boxing community owing to his past and his ties to Russian authorities. Under Kremlev's leadership, the IBA signed a sponsorship contract with Gazprom, which intensified the conflict with the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The IBA organises international tournaments that are not recognised by the IOC. In 2023, Kremlev was part of the official Russian delegation during the Russian president's visit to China.
Career
Kremlev has been involved in boxing since his youth. Until July 2017, he was Head of Patriot Boxing Promotions and worked with leading boxers such as Roy Jones Jr., Fedor Chudinov, Dmitry Chudinov, and Mikhail Aloyan. He now works at the Boxing Progress Centre in Moscow.
On 1 February 2017, Kremlev became General Secretary and a Member of the Executive Committee of the Russian Boxing Federation.
On 3 November 2018, Kremlev was elected (with 63 votes) to the Executive Committee of the International Boxing Association (AIBA, later IBA) at the AIBA Congress in Moscow, thus becoming the first Russian to be nominated as a Member of the AIBA Executive Committee.
On 23 February 2019, he was elected First Vice‑President of the European Boxing Confederation (EUBC) by a majority of votes (25 out of 40) at the EUBC General Assembly held in Moscow.
On 21 November 2019, Kremlev was nominated as Chairman of the AIBA Marketing Commission at the AIBA Extraordinary Executive Committee Meeting; he later organised AIBA Continental Forums for the countries of the Americas, Oceania, and Asia in 2020.
He won 57.33 per cent of the vote to replace Mohamed Moustahsane of Morocco as AIBA President on 12 December 2020. The election was held virtually at AIBA's ongoing congress owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was attended by 155 National Federations from five continents.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been concerned about the IBA under Kremlev's leadership. Kremlev has ties to Vladimir Putin, has moved much of the IBA's operations from Lausanne, Switzerland, to Russia, has spent heavily on apparent self‑promotion, and has opposed the independent appointment of judges and referees. The IOC has also been alarmed by the fact that the IBA's only sponsor was a Russian state‑owned energy company (Gazprom) that supports the Russian invasion of Ukraine, although Kremlev said that sponsorship ended in December 2022. This statement was later refuted in August 2024 by Chris Roberts, IBA's British chief, who confirmed that Gazprom remained an IBA sponsor. In September 2022, the IBA voted against holding a presidential election, cementing Kremlev's position as the organisation's president.
Donald Trump Jr. wedding financing
In September 2026, ProPublica published an investigation titled "Donald Trump Jr.'s Bahamas wedding was secretly bankrolled by Russian oligarch close to Putin", referring to Kremlev's financing of a portion of Donald Trump Jr. and Bettina Anderson's May 2026 post-wedding activities. The report claimed Kremlev had paid for $100,000 worth of wedding expenses for Trump Jr. and Anderson, including renting one of two private islands where the wedding was held and a fireworks show.
On September 14, 2026, Anderson confirmed the report in an Instagram post, writing Kremlev hosted a two nights of the wedding celebrations as "an extraordinarily generous wedding gift", describing Kremlev as a "dear friend".
Reaction
The acceptance of Kremlev's gifts by private US individuals was characterized as legal, but was criticized by ethics watchdog groups, including presenting the appearance of a conflict of interest for the son of the president to accept gifts from an individual associated with a foreign head of state.
Jordan Libowitz, vice president of communications for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), said, "People don't just give hundreds of thousands of dollars to a random acquaintance without wanting something," adding, "You can see how [Putin] would enjoy all this press about how people in his circle are cozying up to people in the president's circle."
Representative Robert Garcia, ranking member on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, issued a social media statement demanding more details, writing, "Why did a Russian oligarch close to Putin fund Trump Jr.’s wedding in the Bahamas?". Garcia added, "Umar Kremlev spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the President’s son. What did he get in return? We need answers."
President Donald Trump gave a statement to The New York Times on September 14, 2026, saying "I have no idea who Umar is, never heard of him, and he didn’t pay for Don and Bettina’s wedding, which took place at a totally different location, and on a different day." In 2025, Kremlev had previously solicited the Trump Administration's support in a dispute between between the International Boxing Association and the International Olympic Committee in an open letter.
Awards
Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", Second Class (11 March 2020), for a great contribution to the development of physical culture and sport, and for diligent work.
Certificate of Honour of the President of the Russian Federation; the medal "25 Years Since the Establishment of the Presidential Security Service"; received gratitude from the President of the Russian Federation "for many years of diligent work and active social activities"; and the Cross of the International Order of St. George Glory.