The eccentric leader of Russia’s Buddhist region of Kalmykia on Tuesday said he was resigning, ending a 17-year rule that has seen him rise to the top of world chess and claim meetings with aliens.
Kalmykia President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov said he would not seek another term as president of the world’s westernmost Buddhist region, when his current mandate runs out on Oc. 24.
Chess-mad Ilyumzhinov, 48, has built an ambitious complex devoted to chess called “Chess City” in his region’s dusty capital, Elista. He has also served as head of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) since 1995.
However, he has earned notoriety for his claims of close encounters with extraterrestrials, including with aliens who arrived in a UFO at his luxury Moscow apartment.
Ilyumzhinov said he was stepping down in line with the policy of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to reshuffle Russia’s powerful regional leaders, which has already seen several regional strongmen step down this year.
“My fourth term expires on Oct. 24 and I do not intend to stand for a fifth term,” Ilyumzhinov told the Interfax news agency.
“I do not intend to leave Kalmykia and will continue to work for the benefit of my people,” he said, adding he would also try to organize a visit by the Dalai Lama to the region.
Ilyumzhinov’s resignation comes at a time when he has been locked in a bitter power struggle with former world champion and Soviet chess legend Anatoly Karpov for the chess federation presidency.
Both men have claimed the nomination of Russia for the post, paving the way for an almighty battle at the chess federation elections due on Sept. 29 in the Russian Urals city of Khanty-Mansiysk.
Challenger Karpov has launched a huge drive to promote his candidacy, seeking to prove that Ilyumzhinov is too eccentric to lead the sport and visiting far-flung areas like the Faroe Islands to snare delegates’ votes.
Both have launched US presidential-style Web sites to back their bids and fling mud at their opponents.
In an interview broadcast in late April, Ilyumzhinov said aliens appeared in a tube on the balcony of his apartment in Moscow.
Karpov’s campaign said that Ilyumzhinov’s remarks had done “considerable damage to the reputation of [the chess federation] and chess.”
“The world press laughed for weeks at his stories of men in yellow spacesuits and at the chess world’s humiliation,” Karpov said.
Medvedev’s reshuffle of regional leaders, effectively appointed by the Kremlin after elections were scrapped in 2004, has already seen the departure of the presidents of powerful energy-rich regions like Tatarstan and Bashkortostan.
The Vedomosti daily said that ruling party United Russia was looking at a half dozen candidates to succeed Ilyumzhinov, all of them ethnic Kalmyks.
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