According to what appears to be an unofficial transcript of the virtual meeting on March 4, the attempt came in an intervention from Ted Tanner, a board member from Australia.

Tanner is said to have attempted to move a motion listing a number of proposals including that the IBA condemn the invasion of Ukraine.

The ninth point in the proposed motion was to "strongly insist for the IBA President Umar Kremlev to immediately resign or place himself aside, and to refrain to get involved in any IBA duty until such time the IOC reconsiders its position regarding the Governments of Russia and Belarus".

No vote was ultimately taken on this element of Tanner’s proposals, which were seconded by Ray Silvas of the United States.

However, the board did vote, with 85 per cent in favour, to "condemn the breach of the Olympic Truce caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as supported by Belarus".

Tanner’s intervention, which also called on the IBA to "immediately cease" its collaboration with Gazprom, is shown by the transcript to have prompted a response from Kremlev, a Russian who is currently facing a challenge to his leadership from Dutchman Boris van der Vorst, in an election due to take place at the body's Congress in Istanbul on May 13 and 14.

According to the transcript, the IBA President’s voice "shows that he is very upset".

He is said to have replied as follows:

"When the IBA National Federations will tell me to leave the office, then I will, but not before.

"I will stay until the end.

"I made everything I could to ensure for IBA not to go bankrupt and to save the boxing family.

"If I leave, IBA will go into indebtedness again, it will go bankrupt and will not have a coin to spend, it will have nothing.

"To cease the partnership with Gazprom would mean the destruction of the sport of boxing, of our organisation, of our association."

Kremlev is also said to have stated that he is "for peace and fully agrees for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals without their national flag".

The IBA and Gazprom, a Russian energy giant that is 38 per cent-owned by the Kremlin, agreed a sponsorship deal last year.

Analysis by insidethegames suggests that Gazprom may have pumped as much as CHF30 million (£24.5 million/$31 million/€29 million) into the boxing body.

Approached for a comment on whether an extract of the transcript was indeed an accurate record of proceedings, or any other comment, the IBA responded as follows:

"IBA Board of Directors meeting minutes are made public according to a clear process whereby minutes are circulated to the Board for approval and then published on the IBA website. As is usual, the minutes for the 4 March meeting will be circulated to IBA Board of Directors members for approval at its meeting of 11 May, which is the next meeting after 4 March.

Before the minutes are approved and published, at the end of each meeting, the Board of Directors decides which decisions and information need to be immediately published in the form of a press release (see art. 29.9 IBA Constitution).

According to article 29.8 of the IBA Constitution, the deliberations of Directors at Board meetings shall be and remain confidential, with the exception of minutes and other information following a majority vote of the Board. 

If you believe you have information regarding a potential breach of these confidentiality provisions, you are invited to provide the details via the confidential mechanism at: https://www.iba.sport/about-iba/governance-and-integrity/information-for-whistle-blowers/

Meanwhile, if you have information that you feel may have been provided with a view to influencing the outcome of the forthcoming election, you are invited to consider article 25.1 (11) of the IBA Rules on Congress and Elections:

(11) Candidates shall not produce (or cause third parties to produce) any spoken word, written text or representation of any nature likely to harm the image or reputation of another Candidate;  

If you believe you have information regarding a potential breach of this provision, you are invited to provide the details directly to the independent body overseeing the elections at: [email protected]".