On June 11, FIDE announced a three-year suspension of the Chess Federation of Russia (CFR) in compliance with the March ruling of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in case 2024/A/10911, previously initiated by the Ukrainian Chess Federation against FIDE, its President, Russian Arkady Dvorkovich, and the CFR.
As we reported in March, the dispute concerns the illegality of the CFR’s activities in the occupied territories of Ukraine, including Crimea, and the connivance of such activities by FIDE and its President. It is worth noting that our Association has repeatedly appealed to FIDE and the IOC regarding these provocations by the aggressor.
The decision stated that the CFR must immediately cease organizing competitions and exercising any control over chess activities in the occupied territories of Ukraine, including Crimea and all mainland areas. The CFR was supposed to comply with the decision within 90 days, which did not happen.
The current FIDE Council resolution, citing IOC recommendations, states that “individual players” with Russian citizenship will play “under the FIDE flag,” while teams of Russian citizens will play “under a neutral flag.”
FIDE also stated that it would develop a separate procedure for “the inclusion in the FIDE rating system of tournaments held in the territory of Russia and for the assignment of FIDE IDs to citizens of Russia,” emphasizing that this procedure will not apply to the occupied territories of Ukraine.
It should be noted that, against this backdrop, provocations organized by Russian intelligence agencies involving “Crimean senator” Sergey Karjakin continue as part of the so-called “international project” “Chess Diplomacy in Russian Houses,” with a recent show held in Astana.
As part of this farce, “Sergey Karjakin chess clubs” are being created en masse in “Russian Houses” from Kazakhstan to Colombia, long serving as residencies for Russian propaganda and subversive activities in third countries, luring local chess players into them. The “Moscow Region Chess Federation,” led by Albert Minnullin, serves as the organizational umbrella for these provocations.
A former Russian champion in the card game of fool – and this is not sarcasm – Minnullin, from a Soviet military family, has spent the last three decades performing tasks for Russian military intelligence under the guise of a “chess journalist” for “Komsomolskaya Pravda”.
Among other things, he served as an “indispensable assistant” for Russian chess players, “organizing trips to foreign tournaments,” “promptly processing foreign passports,” and other similar “journalistic work.”
Meanwhile, his partner in crime in the “Moscow Region Chess” campaign, professional translator Veniamin Yarkin, “fruitfully assists” Minullin in recruiting third-country chess players for the needs of Russian military personnel and organizing propaganda provocations.
Yarkin also serves as an advisor to the Russian Embassy in Thailand, despite the fact that the constant absence of this “chess diplomat” from Bangkok does not bother his formal superiors at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Meanwhile, the aforementioned “Sergey Karjakin chess clubs” have been declared by the aggressor “in Astana, Bishkek, Dushanbe, as well as in dozens of other countries, including Hungary, India, Thailand, and Chile.”
Thus, it is clear that FIDE’s current “Crimean reshuffle” will not stop the criminal activities of the Russian special services under the guise of “big chess,” and therefore, analysis and further exposure of the provocations perpetrated by Karjakin and his puppeteers are necessary.
