By Natalie Myers
This is Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. He is a successful businessman from Russia and world class chess player and was president of the international chess governing body FIDE from 1995 to 2018.
He is fluent in Russian, English, Japanese and Kalmyk (where he was originally born) and he served for two years in the Soviet Army. He made his millions following successful jobs in automobile companies, creating wealth from the private sector following the collapse of the USSR. He also ventured into Politics serving as President of the Republic of Kalmykia in the Russian Republic from 1993 to 2010.
One evening in September 1997, Ilyumzhinov claims that he was abducted. He recalls being taken from his apartment in Moscow up to a spaceship and taken away into space, spending a whole day with the alien beings.
He reports the beings wore yellow space suits and recalls also being given a suit when his breathing became laboured. The suit had a dial in the middle of the chest area that allowed him to regulate his oxygen supply.
IIyumzhinov states the ship was “enormous”, describing how they landed on a planet to pick up a piece of equipment. Communication was via telepathy and he was told that reason that aliens had not shown themselves to the wider public was that they simply “weren’t ready”.
lIyumzhinov has always been open and transparent about the event in 1997 even though it caused some political backlash for him. He was certainly an unconventional politician who was criticised for some of his outlandish policies which included giving every Shepard a free mobile phone and being somewhat obsessed with construction of religious buildings. More controversially, he claimed to be able to make people bend to his will and stated:
Following his return to Earth, lIyumzhinov found only an hour of time had been missed. He claims his staff had been looking for him during this interval and were unable to find him. Another bold claim he made upon his return is that the aliens did in fact introduce the human race to his beloved game of chess.
Many political opponents started to question his ability to lead given his outlandish claims. One man in particular, a Russian parliament member named Andre Lebedev, raising concerns that he may have disclosed political secrets to the aliens, putting Russia in jeopardy. Others simply thought he was mad.
lIyumzhinov has always felt he did the right thing openly speaking about his abduction. He stated he received letters and calls from people all over the world thanking him for being brave enough to share his story. He remained in office for many years after making the claims.
Whatever you may think about the validity of this case, it’s a clear example that abduction cases don’t just occur to the ordinary Joe Bloggs. These claims were made by the President of Kalmykia, on television and in several interviews he has given to journalists since.
His allegations did not intact hinder his political career in any way, indeed he remained in office for a long time. It seems odd that a prominent figure would come out with such an outlandish claim unless it had some validity. However there has never been any corroboration from the staff he claims looked for him nor any physical evidence to back up his claims.
It’s an interesting story. What do you think?
