Russian soccer: Player not beaten over contract

Published Apr. 18, 2011 4:26 p.m. ET

foxsports

The Russian Football Union has fined topflight club Kuban Krasnodar $70,000 for illegally terminating the contract of a player from Montenegro, but said there was no proof he was beaten into tearing up his contract as he claims.

In a statement posted online Monday, the RFU said Kuban committed several technical violations over the terms of Nikola Nikezic's contract.

Nikezic said he suffered a 20-minute beating from two men in an office at the club's headquarters in Krasnodar in southern Russia last month. Nikezic's contract was to run through November but he said he signed a termination out of fear for his life.

The RFU said ''there is no evidence of physical pressure on Nikezic, but that the contract was ended against the rules, that's a fact.'' The club's director was also fined, and two officials whom Nikezic implicated were temporarily banned.