“Russian players are rare and dictate the conditions. But they won’t even get half of what they earn here in Europe” — Vatutin

President of CSKA Andrey Vatutin said in an interview with that after the withdrawal of Russian basketball from international matches, players continue to receive high salaries, although the competition load has decreased.

CSKA , Zenit St. Petersburg and UNICS Kazan have been excluded from the Euroleague since March 2022. Their results from last season were cancelled. For the time being, the army team remains a shareholder of the Euroleague and cooperates with it in online negotiations.

– With the admission of Uralmash and Runa to the VTB United League, the latest claims against the League that it sees no other Russian teams and is a closed competition have disappeared. The main thing is that there are enough players of the required level for everyone. I speak first of the Russians. I’m happy for the guys who make a lot of money in Russia, but two things trouble me. First: as the well-known sports saying goes, “I play less often – the same money”. With the disappearance of the Euroleague, the load at least did not increase, there were fewer matches, and it is impossible to compare the Euroleague and the VTB League in terms of regular season level. And the contract numbers are the same. The reason is that the Russian players are in big deficit, everyone needs them and so they dictate their terms. Second, with a few exceptions (which I’m not sure of), Russian players won’t even get half of what they earn here in Europe. I repeat, I’m happy for the guys, but I speak as an employer, Vatutin told .

In May, the army team lost in the seventh game of the VTB United League semi-finals against Krasnodar Lokomotiv-Kuban (100:103) and did not reach the decisive stage of the confrontation. In the series for third place, CSKA defeated Zenit.