The Kremlin has called for chess star Sergey Karjakin’s ban to be overturned. The International Chess Federation (FIDE) banned the Russian grandmaster from competing for six months following his comments on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Dmitry Peskov, who is the spokesperson for President Putin and also Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Chess Federation, called for a change to the decision. He told Russian news agency TASS that chess "must be beyond politics.”
Peskov then added: "We regret this. We call on FIDE to reconsider this decision and still remain out of politics, thereby confirming the international prestige of this chess organisation. Naturally, we disagree with this decision."
