The organisation of European Shooting Championships was first decided in 1952 at the Congress of the International Shooting Union. Successful Championships and regional competitions were organised by the Committee for European Affairs within the International Union. The Confederation was founded as a distinct entity in 1969.[5]
Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine the ESC and ISSF had banned Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from its competitions.[9] In March, both ESC President Alexander Ratner and ISSF President Vladimir Lisin were barred from attending the European 10metre Shooting Championships in any official capacity,[10][11] amid calls for them to step aside.[12][13] Ratner attended privately, insisting that neither he nor Lisin had links with the Russian government.[14][15]
In July 2023, the Finnish Shooting Sport Federation (SAL) called for a secret ballot on the ESC Presidency to be added to the agenda of the 2023 ESC General Assembly in October.[16][17] In particular they complained that Ratner had used ESC platforms to support Vladimir Lisin in the ISSF elections, as well as breaching the neutrality required as salaried staff at the ISSF (Ratner was ISSF Secretary-General at the time).[18][19] In response, Mr Ratner threatened legal action.[17] SAL appealed the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which found itself unable to impose provisional measures.[20][16][21] No ballot was held at the General Assembly.[22]
^Ali Iveson (21 October 2021). "Ratner beats Rossi to assume European Shooting Confederation Presidency". Inside the Games. Dunsar Media Company. Archived from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 5 January 2024. Alexander Ratner is the new President of the European Shooting Confederation (ESC) after receiving just shy of 55 per cent of votes in a straight shootout with Luciano Rossi. Ratner polled 52 of the 95 votes cast at today's ESC General Assembly in Larnaka in Cyprus. Rossi received 43 votes.
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^Liam Morgan (29 October 2021). "Liam Morgan: Déjà vu for Kosovo as sport continues to let country down". Inside the Games. Dunsar Media Company. Archived from the original on 29 October 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2024. A week has passed since the Presidential election at the European Shooting Confederation (ESC). In normal times, it is feasible the vote would have passed with little traction outside of the world of Olympic shooting. But the fact the winner of the election, Russia's Alexander Ratner, is also the secretary general of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) has caught the attention of the IOC. Whatever Ratner, the ISSF and its President Vladimir Lisin have to say, there is an obvious conflict here. You do not need to be a professor of governance to realise that. Ratner is now the number one in Europe and the number two at the worldwide governing body. There is wearing too many hats, and then there is wearing clearly conflicting hats. The IOC declined to comment on the election but said it "is confident that the newly elected ESC President will take the appropriate steps to avoid a situation that could lead to any conflict of interest".
