In 2022, he was removed from his position as European Fencing Confederation (EFC) president at an Extraordinary Congress following a unanimous vote of no confidence in Pozdnyakov, due to his conduct in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

[4] Pozdnyakov's former son-in-law Konstantin Lokhanov won two world junior championships in sabre, and fenced in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

[5] His son-in-law emigrated to the United States in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, however, as he was against the war, and at the end of the day the couple divorced.

[6] Describing her decision to not accept her husband's request that she join him in the United States, Sofia later said: "As for feelings, love, there was a moment when we did not understand where to go.

"[7] After Lokhanov moved to the United States, his father-in-law – in what The New York Times called an apparent swipe at Western frivolousness—referred to him obliquely as having "the sad fate of frightened lovers of raspberry frappé and yellow scooters.

[2] At the 2004 Olympics, Pozdnyakov again competed as part of the Russian men's sabre team, which beat the USA 45-44 for the bronze medal.

The United States had been losing to Russia 40-35 going into the last bout, but in that match American Keeth Smart outscored Pozdnyakov 10-4 for the one-touch team win.

[20] He was questioned by the press as to how it could be that he was managing the team, given that the Russian Olympic Committee had been suspended from the Winter Games, and he was the ROC's vice president.

[24] In December 2019, after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) banned Russia from all major sporting events for four years for tampering with laboratory data on doping, Pozdnyakov opined that the sanctions were inappropriate and excessive.

[25] WADA imposed the sanctions after its executive committee concluded that Russia had planted fake evidence, and deleted files linked to positive doping tests in laboratory data that could have helped identify drug cheats.

[25] In June 2022, he was removed from his position as European Fencing Confederation (EFC) President at an Extraordinary Congress following a unanimous vote of no confidence in Pozdnyakov that March, due to his xenophobic conduct in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine which had commenced in late February 2022.

[29] In December 2023, Pozdnyakov directly threatened any Russian athlete who may choose to participate as a "neutral" at the 2024 Olympics, saying: "As the head of the ROC, I voice a clear position: ... We live in a free state...