Levon Aronian's mother speaks in defense of her son

Leading Armenian chess player Levon Aronian’s mother, Seda Aronovna has posted the following on her Facebook post, touching upon the criticism targeted at her son.

“I had decided not to respond to the inappropriate and obscene criticism against my son, Levon Aronian, who is being called a traitor of the nation.

If Levon is accused of “stealing” funds in Armenia, I must inform that, as captain of the team, he only receives AMD 200,000. As far as the information about astrological amounts are concerned, I must say that the amounts aren’t targeted at him. The amounts were transferred to the Chess Federation of Armenia for permission to benefit from the special server, and he isn’t the only one who has benefited from that server. As a matter of fact, he hasn’t been allowed to use the service since 2020.

For some reason, nobody is talking about Levon’s donations and charities. I will also refrain from announcing the amount of funds that he regularly transfers for charity purposes. I will only state that Levon delivered a lecture for the NBA to help Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and transferred all proceeds to Hayastan All-Armenian Fund.

Levon also does charities for Armenia and Artsakh with his funds and by taking advantage of his reputation in the world (his foreign friends from around the world transferred large amounts to Hayastan All-Armenian Fund during the war). I will only state that his non-Armenian friends transferred over EUR 30,000 from Bulgaria.

Levon is currently in Armenia and is successfully playing under the ARMENIAN FLAG, but no media outlet, neither oppositional nor pro-government, provides coverage of his victories. It is clear that this was an order. In addition, I must say that Levon has received and still receives several offers to play for the teams of other countries with salaries that are a thousand times higher than the salary in Armenia.

To date, he has declined the offers, but I can’t say what decision he will make this time, judging from the criticism of all Armenians.

Stop criticizing the talented chess grandmaster and trying to present him as a person who forgot the homeland and his family. Please note that Levon’s participation in chess life in Armenia wasn’t for the PR of President of the Chess Federation of Armenia, but for the reputation and honor of Armenia in the world.

After all this, people advocating morality, do you understand who is daring to criticize whom? You pose a danger to our homeland,” Seda Aronovna wrote.

Earlier, rumor had it that Levon Aronian has refused to play under the flag of the Republic of Armenia and is preparing to move to the US and represent that country. In an interview with NEWS.am Sport, Vice-President of the Chess Federation of Armenia Smbat Lputyan informed that Aronian will issue a statement soon.

Currently, the Armenian chess grandmaster is participating in Meltwater Champions Chess Tour’s Opera Euro Rapid stage and has scored a pass to the quarter final of the online rapid chess tournament of the Opera Euro Rapid stage.

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