MOSCOW, March 22. /TASS/. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday he regrets a decision of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) to ban Russian Grandmaster Sergey Karjakin for a six-month period and urged the international sports federation to revise its decision.
The FIDE stated on March 21 that its Ethics and Disciplinary Commission (EDC) decided to suspend Russian grandmaster Karjakin from all competitions for the period of six months.
"The principle of sports is undoubtedly beyond the politics, including the sport of chess, which needs to remain beyond the politics," Peskov told journalists adding that it is "our [Russia’s] main approach."
He stated that "any citizen of Russia should and must bear the right to express a personal opinion, when such events [regarding the operation] are under the development, and not a single citizen of Russia must be deprived of the right to express a personal opinion."
"We state our concerns in regard to this issue and call on FIDE to review this decision [on Karjakin’s suspension] and to keep staying beyond the politics, to confirm the global prestigious level of this international chess federation," Peskov added.
According to the statement issued on Monday by FIDE, "Sergey Karjakin is found guilty of breach of article 2.2.10 of the FIDE Code of Ethics, and is sanctioned to a worldwide ban of six months from participating as a player in any FIDE rated chess competition, taking effect from the date of this decision, 21 March 2022."
On February 28, Karjakin published an open letter in which he supported Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine. The next day, FIDE condemned the Russian grandmaster for public announcement of his political stance, launching a disciplinary case against him.
Karjakin, 32, is currently 18th in the FIDE Rankings List. In 2016, the Russian chess player won the Candidates Tournament and then lost the World Chess Championship’s title encounter to Norwegian Magnus Carlsen.
Karjakin is the winner of the Chess World Cup 2015. He is also the world champion in Rapid Chess (2012) and Blitz (2016).
Russia’s military operation in Ukraine
On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees at a ceremony in the Kremlin recognizing the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR). Putin met with DPR leader Denis Pushilin and LPR leader Leonid Pasechnik, and signed treaties with them on friendship, cooperation and mutual aid between Russia and both republics.
President Putin said in a televised address on February 24 that in response to a request from the heads of the Donbass republics, he had decided to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from the Kiev regime’s abuse and genocide for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans to occupy Ukrainian territory.
The Russian Defense Ministry had reassured earlier that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, and were limited to conducting surgical strikes and incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure, insisting that there is no threat whatsoever to the civilian population.