FIDE president blacklisted for ‘supporting’ Syrian government

By Errol Tiwari On In Chess with Errol |
The World Chess Federation President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is shown here (at left) in dialogue with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in April 2012 in Damascus. President Assad had tasked the Syrian Ministry of Education to join the “Chess in Schools” project administered by FIDE. According to Ilyumzhinov, “The Syrian President plays chess very well—since his studies in London.” Two weeks ago, the US government blacklisted the FIDE president for materially assisting the Syrian government. Recently, President of the Russian Chess Federation Andrey Filatov proposed that Ilyumzhinov run for the FIFA presidency.
The World Chess Federation President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is shown here (at left) in dialogue with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in April 2012 in Damascus. President Assad had tasked the Syrian Ministry of Education to join the “Chess in Schools” project administered by FIDE. According to Ilyumzhinov, “The Syrian President plays chess very well—since his studies in London.” Two weeks ago, the US government blacklisted the FIDE president for materially assisting the Syrian government. Recently, President of the Russian Chess Federation Andrey Filatov proposed that Ilyumzhinov run for the FIFA presidency.

The United States has imposed sanctions against President of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) and former Russian regional governor Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, owing to his alleged assistance to the government of Syria. Ilyumzhinov is among four individuals and six entities the US Treasury penalized for supporting the government of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

20130630errolAccording to Bloomberg, Ilyumzhinov said he has no business activities in Syria and that he’s surprised by the decision to put him on the US financial sanctions list.

According to Chess News, in a television interview in Moscow, Ilyumzhinov stated: “I think this is a provocation. On Sunday, in just a few days, I have a scheduled visit to the USA to negotiate and sign the agreement on the world championship that will take place in New York in November 2016. It is yet to be sorted out why they added me in that list. I will go to the Treasury to ask them what’s wrong and what questions they’ve got [for] me. In general,