MOSCOW, June 10. /TASS/. President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) Arkady Dvorkovich intends to file an appeal against the federation’s Ethics Commission decision to reprimand him, the FIDE chief told TASS on Monday.
Late last week, the FIDE Ethics and Disciplinary Commission ruled to slap the Chess Federation of Russia (CFR) with a two-year ban citing the Russian federation’s previous decision to include Russia’s new territorial entities as its members. FIDE’s decision on this issue is expected to come into force within 60 days.
The FIDE Ethics Committee also reprimanded Dvorkovich for his participation in the activities of the FIDE Board of Trustees. The complaint on the issue was earlier submitted to the FIDE Ethics Committee by the Ukrainian Chess Federation.
"Yes, I will [be filing an appeal]," Dvorkovich said in an interview with TASS in response to a question on whether he would fight the FIDE Ethics Commission’s ruling. "A lawsuit filed by the Ukrainian Chess Federation and my rivals regarding the previous [FIDE presidential] election has been pending for several months already."
The FIDE press office announced on June 7 that its Ethics and Disciplinary Commission had ruled that the CFR "will lose its membership in FIDE for two years from the date of this decision," adding that FIDE President "Arkady Dvorkovich is officially reprimanded."
FIDE President Dvorkovich went on to say that "since this issue emerged the CFR and I personally have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. I believe that these denials were absolutely substantiated."
"However, the first instance of the [FIDE] three-member Ethics Commission (by two votes in favor and one against) ruled to pass its decision," Dvorkovich continued. "The decision is made up of two parts, namely the temporary expulsion of the CFR from FIDE and a reprimand to me."
"This decision should come into force in 60 days, but an appeal can be filed within a 21-day period," the FIDE president noted. "However, it’s only the first instance and in terms of the procedural efforts it means that we still have some time to file an appeal and seek legal defense."
Asked by a TASS correspondent whether Dvorkovich would appeal the decision of the Ethics Commission at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland’s Lausanne, Dvorkovich said he hoped "it would not come to this."
"Filing such appeal is necessary when all possibilities within FIDE are exhausted," he said. "We are speaking here about an appeal that can be considered by a possible new [FIDE Ethics and Disciplinary] Commission or by the new FIDE Congress."
"In case the final decision does not suit neither the CFR nor regarding my personal case, there is still an option left to turn to CAS, but I hope it would not go that far," the FIDE president noted.
Dvorkovich also stated that "the [FIDE] Ethics Committee filed two general complaints, one of which was about personnel within the RCF Board of Trustees, including myself and several other people. [Russian Presidential Spokesman] Dmitry Peskov is the chairman of this [FIDE] Board of Trustees]."
"The main complaint stipulates that there are people [on the Russian Board of Trustees], who are under sanctions by certain countries and, according to the [FIDE Ethics and Disciplinary] Commission this poses a threat to FIDE’s reputation."
Russian sport of chess under sanctions
On February 28, 2022 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments because of the special military operation in Ukraine.
Following the IOC’s recommendations in late February last year, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.
On March 16, 2022 the FIDE barred athletes from Russia and Belarus from participating in international tournaments. The organization, however, allowed representatives of these countries to play individually under the flag and logo of FIDE.