Wir freuen uns außerordentlich mitteilen zu dürfen, dass nun monatlich „unser Mann in Moskau“ an dieser Stelle zu Wort kommen wird. Dafür arbeitet er sich durch die russisch-sprachige Medienlandschaft, um eine von ihm ausgewählte Thematik vorzustellen. Abgesehen von Spielresultaten und Eckenverhältnissen interessiert uns eigentlich fast alles. Immer zum 20. eines Monats wird unser Freund und Vereinsmitglied Aljoscha zur Feder greifen. Wir sagen Вольшое спасибо und geben zurück nach Moskau.
Dinamo Minsk fans force gay director out of club Fans of Dinamo Minsk have succeeded in pressurising their club to cancel the appointment of a new marketing director after discovering that the latter’s social network profile contained evidence of a “non-traditional” sexual orientation. Valentin Sereda, a former radio station director and presenter, had been appointed to head the football club’s marketing department on 21 January. However, shortly thereafter, a screenshot from Sereda’s account with popular Russian-language social network VKontakte appeared on the Twitter account ‘BelUltras’, inviting followers to draw their own conclusions regarding Sereda. This was soon followed by the issue of demand to the club’s management from a group of its fans, calling for the “immediate removal” of Sereda, on the basis that they “are against any pidaras [highly derogatory term for homosexual – MiM] working for our club.” In light of the fan ultimatum, the club appears to have moved swiftly to respond to the offended group’s concerns by letting Sereda go. A statement released by the club on its official website announced that Sereda had “caused significant damage to the image and reputation of the club as a result of his unprofessional actions.” The statement went on to say that, as a result of the above, it had “decided to end all further working relationships with Valentin Sereda.” While the club declined to specify which actions in particular had led to the termination of its relationship with Sereda, calling the matter “internal”, it nevertheless denied that the sacking was motivated by the issue of his sexual orientation. The club also asserted that no contract had ever been formally signed with Sereda, who had been “under examination” for the position, and that his release following the fan ultimatum was simply “a coincidence.” Sereda has now returned to his previous role as a presenter for a local radio station and would not provide any comment to the press regarding his misadventure with the football club. Dinamo Minsk is one of two top flight clubs in the city, and finished as runners-up in the national championship last season. Sources: (in Russian) http://by.tribuna.com/football/1026652395.html http://rus.postimees.ee/3065687/bolelwiki-minskogo-dinamo-zastavili-klub-otkazatsja-ot-sotrudnika-geja http://www.sovsport.ru/news/text-item/773254 http://naviny.by/rubrics/society/2015/01/22/ic_articles_116_188049/