Russia Seeks 'Hundreds Of Millions' In Assets From New FIDE President Turlov
It's been a week since Timur Turlov was elected FIDE president. Already, he is grappling with the consequences of putting himself on the world stage.
"A week is a long time in politics," former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson famously said.
Even more so, it seems, when it comes to FIDE politics.
Barely a week after Timur Turlov was elected president of the governing body of chess, Russian prosecutors are reportedly gunning for him. Assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars are being sought from the Russian-born Kazakh billionaire and companies linked to his Freedom Holding financial group.
World Chess doesn't pretend to understand the ins and outs of the Russian legal system; but here is our understanding.
Turlov, 38, was elected FIDE president in Samarkand on September 26, defeating German businessman Wadim Rosenstein 110-85 in a second-round ballot and succeeding former Russian deputy prime minister Arkady Dvorkovich
The father-of-six who burst onto the chess scene to become FIDE's biggest sponsor became the second-youngest president in FIDE's history. Following his election, Turlov gave this interview to FIDE's YouTube channel:
But it hasn't taken long for the issues in his in-tray to mount up. Now Turlov faces an extraordinary legal battle in the country of his birth.
Russia's Prosecutor General's Office is widely reported as having filed a lawsuit against Turlov, Freedom Holding Corp., Freedom Finance Europe Ltd., W-Empirical Holding Corp. and businessman Arkady Shchukin at Moscow's Tverskoy District Court.
Interfax, citing Russian law-enforcement sources, reported that prosecutors are seeking to transfer to the state money and other assets, including movable and immovable property, with a total value running into "hundreds of millions of dollars".
A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for October 15.
What's the reason?
There is, however, an important point to note.
Court records show that the lawsuit was filed on September 24—two days before Turlov won the FIDE election—even though news of the action only emerged after he had taken office.
That means there is currently no basis to suggest the case was launched in response to Turlov's election or to the decisions subsequently taken by FIDE concerning the Chess Federation of Russia (CFR).
Also, the full grounds for the Russian prosecution have not officially been made public. It is quite the mystery.
Russian newspaper Kommersant has reported, citing sources, that prosecutors may seek to have Turlov and other defendants declared "extremists", with alleged financial support for Ukraine at the centre of the case.
According to reports cited by Kommersant, Turlov donated one billion Kazakh tenge—more than $2 million—to the Ukrainian embassy in Kazakhstan for humanitarian assistance, while Freedom Holding provided €2 million through Ukraine's UNITED24 platform for ambulances.
Those claims about the basis of the prosecution have not yet been publicly confirmed by the Prosecutor General's Office.
Freedom Holding said it was examining the lawsuit and questioned both its substance and validity.
"We are still puzzled about the essence of this lawsuit and its correctness," the company said in comments reported by Russian business outlet RBC.
Freedom added that it saw no significant threat to the group's operations and said the holding company neither operates nor holds assets in Russia.
Turlov was born in Moscow and built the early part of his financial business in Russia.
He renounced his Russian citizenship in 2022 and became a citizen of Kazakhstan. Freedom subsequently sold its Russian banking and brokerage businesses, completing its exit from the Russian market in 2023.
The businessman has since become an increasingly significant figure in international chess.
He became president of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation in 2023 and entered this year's FIDE election initially as the proposed Deputy President on incumbent Arkady Dvorkovich's ticket.
After Dvorkovich withdrew from the race, Turlov ran for president himself with five-time World Champion GM Viswanathan Anand as his proposed deputy.
Turlov won the presidency on September 26 after a second-round ballot, succeeding Dvorkovich and ending the former Russian deputy prime minister's eight years at the head of FIDE.
Russia was one of the most contentious issues of the election campaign.
Turlov told Reuters before the vote that respecting a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling concerning the CFR was a "red line".
The CFR was temporarily suspended by FIDE in June after the governing body concluded that it had failed to comply within the required timeframe with a CAS award concerning its activities in Sevastopol, Crimea, Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia.
At the General Assembly following Turlov's election, delegates rejected proposals from Armenia, Belarus, Cuba and Nicaragua to restore the CFR's membership.
Turlov told delegates that FIDE had to comply with the CAS decisions, while expressing hope that the Russian federation could eventually return once it fulfilled the required conditions.
His new administration nevertheless includes former Russian sports minister Pavel Kolobkov, who was elected as one of FIDE's Vice Presidents.
Turlov has also appointed Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak as a Vice President.
The Russian court case therefore opens another potentially significant front for a FIDE president who has taken office amid unusually complicated relations between Russia and Ukraine.
But for now the two issues need to be kept separate.
The Russian lawsuit predates Turlov's election, its complete legal basis has not yet been made public, and no evidence has emerged that it was brought because of his subsequent decisions as FIDE president.
The first significant opportunity to learn more could come on October 15, when the preliminary hearing is due to take place in Moscow.
