11:14 a.m .: The president of FIDE supports the Kremlin?
Shortly before the vote at the International Chess Federation, Ukrainian candidate Andrii Baryshpolets accused the outgoing president of having “huge links with the Russian government”. “You, Arkadi, are responsible for what is happening in Ukraine now. You are responsible for the rise of the Russian government and Russia’s war machine. How can we, the chess world, afford this? denounced the Ukrainian.
The links between Dvorkovich and the Kremlin are ambiguous. In March, Arkady Dvorkovich appeared to criticize the Russian invasion, saying his “thoughts (are) with Ukrainian civilians”. “Wars don’t just kill priceless lives. Wars kill hopes and aspirations, freeze or destroy relationships and bonds,” he told the US news site Mother Jones. A position he reiterated before FIDE, adding that he had supported a reduction in Russia’s participation in FIDE.
But those comments drew criticism in Russia, and he later backtracked, saying there was “no place for Nazism or the domination of some countries over others”. The remarks were seen as support for the Kremlin, which portrays Ukraine as being ruled by Nazis and accuses the West of wanting to bring the country under its control.
–
