Garry Kasparov now on Moscow terrorist list

Photo: Carlos Costa Archives Agence France-Presse Garry Kasparov, during an interview in Lisbon, Portugal, November 2021

France Media Agency in Moscow

7:05 p.m.

• Europe

Russia has placed the 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.< /p>

“An honor that says more about Putin's fascist regime than about me”, reacted the person concerned on his X account, followed by a million people.

“Extremism in 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 imposes heavy penalties on them. 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. The latter, for his part, subsequently supported Vladimir Putin and became a deputy in the Russian president's party.

Russian strikes on Odessa during Zelensky's visit

ODESSA — The Russian army carried out strikes on Odessa on Wednesday that left five dead at a time when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis were traveling in this major port in the south of Ukraine.

“We confirm the attack on the port infrastructure of the city of Odessa. We confirm the death of five people. There are also wounded,” Ukrainian navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk told AFP.

“At the very end [of the visit], we heard the sound of air raid sirens and explosions very close to us. We did not have time to take shelter,” said Mr. Mitsotakis after the bombings.

The Russian military “does not care whether [the targets] are military or civilians […], whether they are international guests. These people don’t care,” responded Mr. Zelensky.

In Moscow, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed responsibility for a missile attack on a commercial port area of ​​Odessa, claiming to have hit a “hangar” in which “naval drones were prepared for combat by the Ukrainian armed forces”.

Agence France-Presse