Arkady Dvorkovich, the president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), said on Friday he was suspending his activity with the organisation after being placed on the EU list of sanctioned Russians. Dvorkovich, a former Russian deputy prime minister, complained that the designation was “unlawful and unfair”. A statement said Viswanathan Anand, an Indian world chess champion, would take over as the federation’s interim president.
It came as the EU has unveiled its largest sanctions package in four years against Russia, targeting 218 individuals and entities. The EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said the measures hit more than 100 banks and cryptocurrency operators, more than 40 vessels from Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, as well as several oil refineries. The package adds more than 50 military-industrial entities to the sanctions list, including key actors involved in producing Russia’s long-range drones. The Russian oil price cap is frozen at $44.10 per barrel for 12 months, preventing an automatic increase that would have raised it to about $58.50.
The new listings take the total number of designations to nearly 3,000. There is a full asset-freeze on 94 Russian financial institutions, nearly all banks, and disconnection of 33 Russian banks from the Swift international payments system. Moscow’s stock exchange is added to the sanctions. Internationally, banks or cryptocurrency platforms are hit in countries including Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, India, Georgia, Panama, the Marshall Islands, Belarus, the United Arab Emirates and Africa.
