LEVITIN Igor Evgenievich

Russian politician and sports figure.
He is a professional military officer with the rank of colonel in the reserve of the russian armed forces.
Using his membership in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), he lobbies for the interests of russian athletes in the international sports arena. In particular, it criticizes the requirements for russian athletes to condemn hostilities against Ukraine in order to be admitted to international competitions and calls such restrictions discriminatory, and states that russian athletes will never accept such conditions.
Currently, russian athletes of the russian Table Tennis Federation participate in international competitions as part of foreign clubs.
He is a member of the Organizing Committee for the preparation and holding of the World Friendship Games, an international competition launched as a russian alternative to the Olympic Games in response to the restrictions on the participation of russian athletes in the Olympic Games in Paris. The aim of the project is to demonstrate to the world russia's capabilities in holding sporting events at the highest level and to develop new formats of sports cooperation. The World Friendship Games project was presented at the largest forums "russia - CEF", "PMEF", "russia - Africa", "russia - Sports Power", and issues were separately resolved with the ministers of South Africa, China, Brazil and North Korea regarding the participation of athletes from their respective countries in the competitions.
In addition, Levitin also invited athletes from all countries to participate in the World Friendship Games during a meeting of the russian Olympic Committee's Athletes Commission.
Also as the first vice-president of the russian Olympic Committee, in September 2023, he made a statement of intent to establish cooperation with the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) on the participation of russian and Belarusian athletes in the Asian Games in China.
In 2022, he called on large russian companies to continue to finance domestic sports at the same level under sanctions.
Along with other federal officials, he is a member of the board of trustees of the Sirius educational center headed by putin. One of Sirius's activities is the intensive training, development and further professional support of gifted children in sports disciplines, including hockey, figure skating and chess.