The Russian candidate, who previously worked for companies such as Huawei or Nokia, is competing for the position with the American Doreen Bodgan-Martin, who aspires to become the first woman to lead the ITU.
The race to replace the current head of the institution, the Chinese Houlin Zhao, which will end in September, will be “tense,” Ismailov predicted.
The former deputy minister referred to the war in Ukraine as a “special military operation”, the same term used by Moscow, and said he hoped the conflict would end soon, although he reserved his opinion on the matter.
“I am not the Secretary General of the UN, I do not see myself in the obligation to express my position on the conflict for this candidacy since it is a technical position, not a political one,” assured Ismailov.
The ITU is a specialized telecommunications agency of the UN that is responsible for regulating radio communications services and managing the international radio frequency spectrum and satellite orbits.