The English Chess Federation (ECF) has alleged that there were multiple abuses of process at the FIDE Congress held online on Sunday (December 14th).
The ECF is claiming that the conduct of the vote on Russian teams in secret was unconstitutional and in contravention of the FIDE Charter.
At the FIDE General Assembly, the majority of delegates voted to lift sanctions against Belarus and Russia. At youth competitions, anthems may be played and the flags of both federations may be displayed again. Their teams are once again eligible to participate in official FIDE competitions.
“The FIDE President, Arkady Dvorkovich, a former Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, who chaired the meeting, effectively acted as a tool of the Russian state. Mr Dvorkovich refused to allow a debate or a vote on the motion proposed by the ECF,” said the statement from ECF.
The General Assembly voted to adopt both the resolution proposed by the Chess Federation of Russia (61 votes in favour, 51 against, 14 abstentions and 15 delegates not voting) and the resolution proposed by the FIDE Council (69 votes in favour, 40 against, 15 abstentions and 17 delegates not voting).
Several delegates had raised questions regarding the procedural interaction between the two adopted texts and their immediate application.
The ECF charge that neither motion in favour of restoring Russian teams to FIDE competitions received a majority of the 141 delegates registered to vote at the meeting.
“The two motions voted on were contradictory. Both motions contradicted IOC policy as reiterated by the IOC. FIDE stands with only five other sports federations out of 108 in easing sanctions on Russian teams,” said the ECF statement.
The ECF also reaffirmed that it will not host FIDE events with Russian teams until the IOC changes its policy.
As per IOC recommendations, Russian players will continue not to be allowed to compete under the Russian flag at ECF events.
The International Judo Federation (IJF) as well as the International Sambo Federation (FIAS) have also iin recent weeks lifted the sanctions on Russia and Belarus.
