US President Donald Trump has lifted sanctions against Syria, the first of which were imposed in 2004, effective July 1. As a result, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the former president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and the former head of Kalmykia, was removed from the “blacklists.” The US Treasury Department stated this matter.
“I perceive this decision as a serious signal about the interest of the US leadership and President Trump personally in changing the nature of relations with our country,” Ilyumzhinov said.
Ilyumzhinov was accused in 2015 of supporting the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. At that time, his assets in the United States were frozen.
