"Sanctions against me are absurd and unfair. I went to court in the USA. I believe that this is a mistake, besides; the US Treasury admitted that the decision on sanctions was political. A month ago, I wrote a letter to Trump. I asked to defend my rights and to invite me to the US to answer all the questions and pass lie detector test," said Ilyumzhinov.
"My passport is still in the US embassy. I was notified that the President had received my letter. Now my issue is being solved almost at the level of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. I hope in the near future I will be given a visa, which I'm waiting for. I want to come there. I do not know if it will be possible to meet with Trump but I have something to tell him as he is a politician," FIDE head added.
"I will have meetings with representatives of the US Treasury but, as far as I know, they do not have any questions to ask from me. Then why am I on the sanctions list and FIDE officials using it as a pretext for their intrigues? They appealed to me at 88th FIDE Congress with a proposal not to run for President because of sanctions. According to my lawyers, they cannot make me do it. No way. Therefore, I wasn’t going to start a discussion. I asked the lawyers if I could run for President. They answered, “yes”. They confirmed that this was only a recommendation on part of FIDE. I must make the decision myself. Elections will take place in September next year. The nomination will happen in three months. There is still a lot of time until June," head of FIDE shared his thoughts.
At the same time, he believes that he is ready to help the development of chess in any capacity:
"I can be an assistant to a vigorous president. I see my missionary function. Different countries are different. I visit Russia continuously. I travel a lot. Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lipetsk region and Kaluga ... I meet with presidents and ministers of different countries. Sanctions? I have American lawyers as regulated by the US law. They do what they can. I was dissuaded from confronting the system. But I will prove in court that this is a mistake," Ilyumzhinov stressed.
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov said that he intends to propose to include ambitious young people in FIDE Presidential Board, such as the founder of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg and founder of a Chinese company Alibaba Jack Ma.
"We are open to invite people with innovative ideas. We have members of FIDE Presidential Board who are in their 50s. On the one hand, the expertise is useful but so also are young, energetic and rich men. That’s the way to change the world," Ilyumzhinov said.
"I intend to create a website to collect proposals for FIDE improvement. I have an idea to hold a tournament with the participation of well-known people, such as Zuckerberg and founder of Microsoft Bill Gates, who are fans of chess. I'm ready to become an adviser and consultant on Facebook. We can offer a market for Facebook. 600 million people play chess on our planet," FIDE President noted.
In addition, he expressed a desire to see Donald Trump and the leader of the DPRK at a chessboard. "Let them -- the President of the United States and Kim Jong-un -- sit at a chessboard with no tie. This would relieve tension in the region. It’s time to stop sabre-rattling," Ilyumzhinov called.
Head of FIDE said that if he could meet with Trump he would propose to hold, under the auspices of the US, a tournament between 100 schoolchildren of South Korea and North Korea at the 38th parallel demilitarized zone. "Seoul agreed. I met with leadership of North Korea and they became interested. The children's tournament at the 38th parallel would show that we do not want war," Ilyumzhinov summed up.

Editorial note. Full press conference of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is at "Radio Kirsan" section at kirsan.today website