CSKA Moscow general director Roman Babaev has been ordered to pay 1 ruble in compensation after losing a slander case against Spartak Moscow's Brazilian striker Welliton, a court said Wednesday.
The token penalty was handed down after Simonovsky District Court ruled Babaev's advice that Welliton "walk the streets with great care," to have defamed the Brazilian's character.
Babaev's comments, published all over the Russian media, came after an August league match in which Welliton caused a serious knee injury to CSKA goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev.
Akinfeev and club officials were incensed by the challenge, which has kept him sidelined for months and led the Russian FA to ban Welliton for six matches. The ban was reduced on appeal to three matches.
Spartak coach Valery Karpin called Babaev's words a call to violence.
