Yesterday the FIDE Council rejected The Russian / Kyrgyz proposal to restore the full rights of the Russian and Belarus Chess Federations. A different case regarding Russia, which the delegates at Budapest consider the more serious and more damaging to chess, is sanctions against Russia and Belarus for the violation of the sports jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Chess Federation.
The Chess Federation of Russia was initially sanctioned by a First Instance Chamber of the Ethics commission with “suspension” for organizing events in Ukrainian territory according to the IOC and FIDE jurisdictions. FIDE President Dvorkovich and the Chess Federation of Russia won their appeal against the Ethics commission and the Appeal Chamber reduced the sanction from “suspention” to a “fine” of 45 000 eur.
ECU Secretary General Theodoros Tsorbatzoglou issued a personal statement, saying, “No illegal military occupation is justified or legitimatized or penalized by sports (national or international) federations through ridiculous monetary fines. The right to life, your place, your home, your family has no face value.,” Read the full statement here
The decision of the Appeals committee comes as a surprise – FIDE statutes, just like IOC statutes and all sports federation statutes, use UN maps to determine jurisdiction for holding of sports events. For a similar reason the Russian Olympic Committee is suspended from IOC. With the new decision by the FIDE Ethics Appeal Committee, CFR may decide to continue breaking the statutes, paying the fine along the way.
The European Chess Union Board issued a statement regarding the situation, after its meeting in Budapest. In it, ECU points to the main problem, that organization of tournaments outside the jurisdiction is de facto “considered by international organisations as facilitation of an illegal military occupation” for which the ECU board demands, “the FIDE Council to demand the Russian Chess Federation to cease any operations in Ukrainian territory and in the case of non-compliance to suspend the Russian Chess Federation with immediate effect.” The ECU statement was accepted with unanimous with no objection.
European Chess Union Board Statement
At its meeting in Budapest on 18 September, the ECU Board issued the following statement in connection with the discussion on the IOC sanctions against Russia and Belarus and the violation of the sports jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Chess Federation.
“The ECU resolves to maintain the sanctions on Russia and Belarus, in accordance with IOC policy, to protect the integrity of FIDE. The ECU requests the FIDE GA to maintain the sanctions on Russia and Belarus imposed by the FIDE Council in 2022.
The ECU regrets the decision of the secondary FIDE disciplinary panel of FIDE that effectively allows the Russian Chess Federation to continue to operate within and adopt in its structure, territories that belong to Ukraine and are under the sports jurisdiction of the Ukraine Chess Federation. This violates the IOC Charter, the FIDE Statutes and the territorial integrity of a ECU federation member. Additionally, these activities of the RCF are considered by international organisations as facilitation of an illegal military occupation.
We ask the FIDE Council to demand the Russian Chess Federation to cease any operations in Ukrainian territory and in the case of non-compliance to suspend the Russian Chess Federation with immediate effect.”
