MOSCOW. March 3 (Interfax) - Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, president of the World Chess Federation, says former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had met with him several days before his death and asked him to pass his request to NATO countries to stop bombing Libya.
"I have repeatedly met with Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi and played chess with him. I was the last international figure to have met him during the last days of his life. He was trying to reach the leaders of the NATO countries through me to ask them not to bomb and kill ordinary people and say to them that he was ready to agree to various peaceful democratic processes in the country," Ilyumzhinov said at a press conference at the Interfax main office on Thursday.
Ilyumzhinov insisted that the world chess championship hosted by Tripoli several years ago was among the best ones ever.