I've been hoping more information would come out about this, but I admit failure. 10 days ago Reuters reported that Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the president of the Russian republic of Kalmykia and also the president of FIDE, visited Baghdad, Iraq the day before the American attack commenced. He left on "the last Russian charter flight out of Iraq" on March 18.
Ilyumzhinov was part of a delegation of Russian politicians and religious leaders led by the Russian chief mufti (a Muslim scholar/religious leader). The chess connection was mentioned in passing in a few reports and some also said Ilyumzhinov met with Saddam Hussein's eldest son, Uday, who is in charge of Iraq's Olympic Committee. An Associated Press report at an Arab news website said, "The Kalmykian governor, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, described being summoned to see Odai Hussein, Saddam’s eldest son, at 5 a.m. after US President George W. Bush’s ultimatum, and being told that Saddam and his family would stay and 'defend our country and our people.'"
Some reports say that the delegation was made up of representatives of those most sympathetic to the Iraqi plight, although none of the quotations along those lines are from Ilyumzhinov.
