Russia Drops Asset-Seizure Case Against FIDE President Timur Turlov
Russian prosecutors have abruptly withdrawn a lawsuit targeting the new FIDE president and his business interests, less than two weeks after reports emerged that assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars were at stake.
Well, that didn't last long.
Less than three weeks after Russian prosecutors launched an extraordinary legal action against newly elected FIDE President Timur Turlov, seeking to confiscate assets reportedly worth hundreds of millions of dollars, they have abandoned the case.
To outside eyes, the whole thing seemed very murky and odd. Now it's over.
Moscow's Tverskoy District Court confirmed, via Interfax, on Thursday, October 15, that Russia's Prosecutor General's Office had withdrawn its lawsuit against Turlov, the founder of financial services group Freedom Holding, and several companies associated with him.
The court subsequently terminated proceedings and lifted restrictions previously imposed on the defendants' assets.
According to Russian business newspaper RBC, Deputy Prosecutor General Igor Tkachev submitted the withdrawal request on October 14, just a day before the case was due to be considered.
A representative of the prosecutor's office supported the withdrawal in court but was unable to explain the decision.
The original lawsuit, which became public on October 1 and World Chess reported, sought to transfer assets belonging to Turlov and associated companies into Russian state ownership.
Russian news agency Interfax reported that the property and funds at stake were worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Prosecutors had also sought to have Freedom Holding and associated defendants designated an extremist organisation and their activities prohibited in Russia. Those demands have now been dropped too.
The sudden reversal brings an unexpected end to a legal confrontation that emerged just days after Turlov's election as president of the International Chess Federation on September 26.
Turlov, a Kazakhstan-based billionaire who was born in Moscow, renounced his Russian citizenship in 2022 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
His financial group subsequently sold its Russian operations, completing the transaction in February 2023.
When the lawsuit first emerged, Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that it could be connected to financial support Turlov and his businesses had provided for humanitarian projects in Ukraine.
That possible connection has never been officially established.
Freedom Holding said at the time that it was perplexed by the proceedings and saw no significant risk to its business, noting that it no longer operated in Russia.
In a statement to Reuters following Thursday's decision, the company reiterated that it operated in accordance with applicable laws and compliance requirements.
The case had presented an unusual situation for FIDE, whose new president was facing legal action in the country of his birth almost immediately after taking office.
Turlov succeeded former Russian deputy prime minister Arkady Dvorkovich, who had led FIDE since 2018.
The court's decision means the asset-seizure proceedings have ended, with the accompanying restrictions lifted.
Why did Russian prosecutors bring such a bizarre case against the new head of world chess, only to abandon it without explanation?
We may never know.
