Leading Russian chess grandmaster Sergey Karjakin has been suspended from playing for six months for publicly supporting Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Axar.az reports citing foreign media that the game's world governing body FIDE announced Monday.

The organisation's ethics committee found that Karjakin, who in 2016 challenged world champion Magnus Carlsen for the title, had brought the game into disrepute with his comments on social media.

The 32-year-old player is an outspoken supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

His statements "on the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine has led to a considerable number of reactions on social media and elsewhere", most of the rejecting Karjakin's views, said FIDE.

Karjakin had published a letter backing Russia's intervention, saying he hoped it would achieve the "demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine" echoing the position taken by Moscow, the ruling noted.