As we noted in September, despite widespread public protest across various nations, Timur Turlov, head of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation and owner of “Freedom Holding Corp”, which operates in the U.S., Kazakhstan, and Russia, was named president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE).
In effect, Turlov, a “former” Russian, has become a “placeholder” for the sanctioned ex-president of FIDE, the Russian Arkady Dvorkovich; like his predecessor, Turlov is under the close supervision of Russian intelligence services.
Meanwhile, in recent months, Turlov has received vocal support within FIDE from Sergey Karjakin, a “Crimean senator” and self-styled “chess champion.”
FIDE has now announced that Alexander Martynov, a Russian national, will serve as Turlov’s senior advisor on “strategic and organizational matters.” It is barely concealed that this structure is intended to function as an “important channel for political dialogue.”
Martynov, a lawyer from St. Petersburg, previously headed FIDE’s legal department and coordinated key international negotiations during Dvorkovich’s tenure. In that role, he worked closely with FIDE’s long-standing Director General, Emil Sutovsky, an Israeli grandmaster of post-Soviet origin.
Given this overt strengthening of Russian operatives within FIDE in the post-Dvorkovich era, it comes as no surprise that the aggressor state is actively utilizing Martynov in propaganda-driven tournaments featuring players from occupied territories.
This includes Alexey Chos from Yevpatoria, who works closely with the illegal “Chess Federation of the Republic of Crimea” and was declared as “the winner” of the 2019 “Tavrida Cup.”
Chos, FIDE profile 14117762, is a real estate businessman who sells property to Russian colonizers. In this capacity, he has repeatedly received “support” from the “Crimean State Fund for Entrepreneurship Support,” as an entity, directly controlled by the aggressor.
“Registered” under his name are the Sevastopol-based “Legal Group,” the Alushta-based “Bron’beri,” and the Yevpatoria-based real estate agency “Dombro.”
Through “Legal Group,” the occupiers laundered over 42 million rubles over the past two years under the guise of “renovations” for Crimean schools, as well as for the Yevpatoria-based “children’s health resorts” “Alye Parusa” (“Scarlet Sails”) and “Mayak” (“Beacon”). These facilities, which are under the aggressor’s control and designated as “federal property,” have previously been used by the occupiers as hubs for holding deported Ukrainian children.
It is therefore unsurprising that, in September of this year, Chos embarked on an extended trip to China, from which he was subsequently deported to Macau.
Furthermore, Martynov has demonstratively played chess with a Simferopol-based entrepreneur, Alexey Alekseev, FIDE profile 14106663, the 2017 “Champion of Crimea”, who actively participates in propaganda events organized by the “Chess Federation of the Republic of Crimea.”
In the FIDE registries, both individuals are unlawfully listed as “Russians,” with Chos having executed this “citizenship transfer” within the system in 2020.
Several prominent grandmasters, including the Danish player Peter Heine Nielsen, have already publicly pointed out to FIDE that these are egregious violations of international law, serving the interests of Russian intelligence services. This situation will continue to receive our attention.
