SAL had called for "secret electronic voting" to discharge the Presidium of the ESC "effective immediately." after expressing dissatisfaction with aspects of Ratners leadership since he became ESC President in 2021.

In response, as insidethegames revealed exclusively yesterday, Ratner instructed the German law practice Summerer, Kranz and Sofing to issue a notice to "Cease and Desist" which carried a threat of court proceeedings in respect of respect of "Defamation of the President and threat of removal of the President of the European Shooting Confederation".

It listed SAL, the Danish Shooting Union and International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) President Luciano Rossi as respondents.

"The paper is so weak that we don’t need to react in any way so there is no reaction from our side."  Nissinen told insidethegames after the SAL reviewed the legal papers.

"I think this needs some publicity on how people operate to avoid some unpleasant things.

Nissinen revealed that a counter paper was being prepared by lawyers representing the organisations in both Finland and Denmark.

Ratner had been ISSF secretary general until midway through the ISSF General Assembly last year when he quit following the defeat of President Russian oligarch Vladimir Lisin. 

The SAL had listed Ratner’s open support for Lisin, allegedly involved in supplying steel to help build tanks and air defence systems for the war against Ukraine. in the ISSF Presidential elections and suggested that he had not provided a proper handover after his own abrupt resignation following the election.

The list also indicated that Ratner had allowed competitions at the 2023 European Games in Wroclaw "to be conducted in a format that had been abandoned and replaced by the ISSF."

All three charges had been refuted by Ratner’s lawyers.

"In the paper there were mentioned three examples of bad leadership and bad behaviour,I agree about those three points but to me those are not decisive," Nissinen added.

"To me, this is much more simple thing, the lack of trust Is the decisive point,"

Member Federations have two votes in any ESC election, although in some countries there are separate organisations for rifle and pistol and shotgun, in which case each has a single vote.

"We want to have on the agenda this vote for trust, and it goes into reality, if it is negative for Ratner, it means he has to walk out immediately," Nissinen said.

The ESC General Assembly is due to take place here in Azerbaijan's capital on October 21.

Insidethegames has contacted Ratner for comment.