"On November 25 last year, the US Treasury has included me in the sanctions list because of my connections with the Syrian government. Yes, I held tournaments there and gifted chess sets. However, the United States believe that I have provided material assistance to Syria", said Ilyumzhinov.
"They sent me administrative case in August. After reading it, my American lawyers and I realized that there was a misunderstanding: the sanctions against me had been imposed on the basis of an interview given by Garry Kasparov to The Guardian, online publications and photos of me with Bashar al-Assad," said the head of FIDE.
He noted that he had requested meetings with the leadership of the US Treasury, the FBI, and the CIA - those that had prepared these documents. He also applied to the US Delta Airlines that sold him a ticket to the United States.
"I have the visa valid until the end of 2017. When I was not allowed to board plane, I wrote a letter to the Secretary of State John Kerry. The only response was silence. After that I decided to appeal to the US President who is the guarantor of the Constitution and the Bill of Human Rights," said Ilyumzhinov.
In his letter to Obama, Kirsan Nikolayevich asked to protect his rights even though he is a citizen of Russia. "However, if his authority is limited, I'm ready to become an American citizen just to prove my innocence," said Ilyumzhinov.
At the same time, he stressed that he was not going to give up the Russian citizenship. "I am not a terrorist and I don’t have any weapon. If I am guilty, let them put me in jail for 10 or 50 years or even in the electric chair. But if they are wrong, they should apologize and pay me $ 50 billion," concluded FIDE President.