A joint statement by the Ukrainian Chess Federation, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has been officially published.
With this document, its drafters address FIDE a few days before the General Assembly of the International Chess Federation, which is scheduled for September 21-22. The text of the statement reads:
“The Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Chess Federation are deeply concerned about the plans of the FIDE General Assembly on September 21-22, 2024 in Budapest, Hungary, to consider the possibility of restoring the right of the national chess federations of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus as full members of FIDE, which will allow their representatives to return to the international chess community.”
“The Russian Federation has been waging a hybrid war against Ukraine for over a decade. The full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, which continues to this day, with the assistance of the Republic of Belarus, has become the bloodiest war in Europe since the Second World War.”
“Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale aggression, the Ukrainian sports community has lost more than 500 athletes and coaches, including 21 chess players, and two more chess players are missing. More than 500 sports infrastructure facilities were destroyed or damaged, including 15 Olympic and Paralympic training facilities.”
“We would like to emphasize once again that the Russian and Belarusian sports communities are an instrument of Russian and Belarusian state policy.”
“Athletes with Russian and Belarusian citizenship should not be part of the international sports movement, as there is no place for countries waging aggressive imperialist wars among peaceful countries. Returning them would mean legitimizing the waging of war.”
“We insist that the national teams of neither the Russian Federation nor the Republic of Belarus have the right to participate in international competitions under the auspices of FIDE.”
“As long as Russian troops, with the support of the Belarusian government, are waging their brutal war against the Ukrainian people, the ban on the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in any international competitions should be upheld.”
“We call on FIDE to maintain the suspension of the participation of athletes from the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus in any international competitions.”
Earlier, many Ukrainian chess players addressed their colleagues with an open letter asking them to prevent the lifting of sanctions against Russian athletes at the FIDE General Assembly.
