"If you're Russian, they meet you halfway": Ukrainian champion is outraged by the actions of the International Federation

The 2001 world champion Ruslan Ponomariov is outraged by the plans of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) to return Russian athletes' national symbols. The grandmaster noted that the organization, headed by Arkady Dvorkovich, helps representatives of the aggressor country.

Ponomariov said this in an interview with the sport-express.ua portal. The 40-year-old native of Horlivka noted that Ukraine had sent a letter to FIDE demanding that the rights of Russians not be restored. This happened after the Russian Federation was returned to membership in the federation.

"I don't understand at all how it was possible to raise the question of lifting restrictions on athletes from aggressor countries. At the Chess Olympiad in Budapest, there are no national teams from Belarus and Russia. However, athletes from these countries are still participating in individual competitions under neutral flags. It is very symbolic that the captain of the Iranian team is the Russian grandmaster Alexander Grischuk. This country supplies Russia with Chessmen and ballistic missiles, and in return, they gave it Grischuk to strengthen its chess team. In general, if you are a Russian, FIDE meets you halfway in everything," Ponomariov said.

Earlier it became known that 110 Ukrainian chess players changed their passports and moved to other countries after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.

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