 The press release has also linked FIDE's head to the murder of Russian journalist Larisa Yudina in 1999, who was investigating an offshore business registration mechanism in Kalmykia tied to Ilyumzhinov and whose murderer was allegedly Ilyumzhinov's adviser while he was serving as President of Kalmykia.The sanctions came shortly before Ilyumzhinov's trip to the United States, where he was supposed to determine which city would host the World Chess Championship 2016.They were also not the first case for sanctioning Russian nationals related to chess on political grounds by the United States and were preceded by the sanctions against Russian businessman Gennady Timchenko in April 2014 because of the Crimean crisis.