Russia has placed exiled opponent and former chess champion Garry Kasparov on its list of people declared “terrorists and extremists”, according to a notice from the Russian financial intelligence service consulted on Wednesday by AFP.
“An honor that says more about Putin’s fascist regime than about me,” reacted the person concerned on his X account (formerly Twitter), followed by a million people.
“Extremism in the defense of freedom is not a vice; Moderation in the pursuit of justice is not a virtue! » he added, quoting a phrase from the American politician Barry Goldwater (1909-1998).
An honor that says more about Putin’s fascist regime than about me. As Goldwater said, extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice and moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue! But all opposition, or simple decency, must be called an extremist by the dictatorship. https://t.co/OuN27A9InN
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) March 6, 2024
Born in 1963 in Azerbaijan — then one of the fifteen republics forming the USSR — Garry Kasparov, 60, was one of the greatest chess players in history before becoming a fierce opponent of Vladimir Putin.
In 2013, fearing legal action, he left Russia and now lives in the United States, from where he continues to denounce Russian power and its military campaign in Ukraine.
A few days after the attack on Ukraine in February 2022, he called for Russia to return to the “Stone Age” by ensuring that Western technologies no longer reach Russian industries.
In 2022, Garry Kasparov had already been designated a “foreign agent” in Russia, an infamous label massively used against opponents, journalists and human rights activists and which subjects them to heavy administrative procedures in Russia.
Most of the major opponents remaining in Russia are imprisoned. Some, like Boris Nemtsov and Alexei Navalny, are dead. The others ended up going into exile.
Garry Kasparov is famous for his long duel in the 1980s with another Soviet chess legend, Anatoly Karpov. He subsequently supported Vladimir Putin and became a deputy in the Russian president’s party.