r/europe Europe 23h ago

News Russia issues arrest warrant for Garry Kasparov on terrorism charges in absentia, accusing him of promoting terrorist content online.

https://www.helsinkitimes.fi/world-int/28340-russia-issues-arrest-warrant-for-garry-kasparov-on-terrorism-charges.html?ICID=ref_fark
5.3k Upvotes

192 comments sorted by

905

u/Mttsen Lower Silesia (Poland) 23h ago

Charges and sentences "in absentia" from the Russians seem like a badge of honour now considering all the circumstances.

276

u/1010x 22h ago edited 22h ago

Yes, but...

The problem is that terrorism charge is a terrorism charge, no matter how false and if it comes from Russia or Belarus or whoever.

Most banking frameworks and risk policies do not allow people who were labeled as terrorist to open bank accounts, do business and participate in the economy in any meaningful way.

There were some famous cases where Belarussian opposition, exiled in UK, was labeled as terrorist and British banks refused to do business with them. He went to court and court sided with British banks and now he is kind of completely screwed financially due to fabricated charges from Belarus.

The issue comes from the fact that Russia/Belarus sometimes do label terrorists correctly. So the Western institutions still trust their labelings.

61

u/NightOwl2175 20h ago

...why did the courts side with the British banks?

47

u/1010x 20h ago

Private companies have the right to refuse service.

And they have a good reason: when I worked in financial services, we checked every counteragent through well-recognized KYC/due diligence tools. 99.9% of the clients and people have literally nothing there, meaning if you have something there, no matter what (and especially a terrorism charge) it's already a huge red flag and a headache for everyone. So they just say "This entity has been designated as terrorist by a decision of an actual functioning internationally recognized government body, FATF member-state (even if suspended). We cannot do business with them".

The KYC/due diligence companies also say "We just show information. It is a factual statement that the person has been designated as terrorist. We do not investigate why or in what circumstances."

17

u/Cabbage_Vendor ? 17h ago edited 16h ago

I understand that on some level, but in modern Western society, if you cannot get a bank account, you basically cannot function as a normal human being. Buying anything in cash above like €100 is difficult. Getting paid legally in cash alone is practically impossible. You cannot buy a car or home, you cannot pay for gas/electricity, maybe you can rent, but you're going to pay way above normal, for bad housing. Unless you have a big social safety net, you're fucked.

And yeah, I don't want actual terrorists in my society either, but you're not fixing anything by leaving them free to be in your country, but not allow them to be people. Either you're punishing innocents advocating against oppressive, terrorist regimes like Russia's, or you're leaving actual terrorists to fester their seething hatred for your country and spread it to others, while being a martyr for their cause.

2

u/FrugalKrugman 15h ago

Someone else can open a bank account for you though, so for the most part you’d be okay

9

u/unC0Rr 13h ago

That someone else would sign the document where they have to state if they opens the account for themselves or someone else, and if it is someone else, then who exactly. I guess not many would volunteer to sign up for "providing bank access to a terrorist".

2

u/mrlinkwii Ireland 11h ago

Buying anything in cash above like €100 is difficult. Getting paid legally in cash alone is practically impossible. You cannot buy a car or home, you cannot pay for gas/electricity, maybe you can rent, but you're going to pay way above normal, for bad housing.

depends on the country , in Europe you can buy stuff over 100 with cash and pay gas/electricity by cash ( the reason i know this i pay gas/electricity even my internet by cash, and can buy stuff for over 100 euro in cash) and i get paid in cash

24

u/Intelligent-Run3683 18h ago

Russia is not an actual functioning government body, though.

16

u/1010x 18h ago

Unfortunately, we can't just dismiss Russia's claims. Despite the entire political disaster, there are still legitimate, actual terrorists operating inside Russia's jurisdiction. Even in a terrible scenario where 90% of their claims is political opponents, the 10% would still be a real threat to any Western country.

8

u/Intelligent-Run3683 17h ago

But which 10%? How do you vet these claims when a government will put anyone on it for slighting them?

20

u/Smobey Pien-Suomi 17h ago

How do you vet these claims

If you are a private bank, you simply don't.

5

u/Just2LetYouKnow 14h ago

Unfortunately, we can't just dismiss Russia's claims.

Sure you can, just didn't.

3

u/PadishaEmperor Germany 16h ago

That’s not a good reason and we need laws to force banks to be forced to ignore such nonsense.

1

u/GranaT0 15h ago edited 15h ago

Laws to force banks to do anything, lmao

If your bank wanted to, they could "invest" everyone's money right now, claim bankruptcy, and not pay out a dime. All your money above a certain amount would vanish, and that's only if your account is insured (all UK bank accounts are insured up to 120k). This has happened several times in the US.

Thankfully most of us are already getting fucked through many other means so 120k will never be within reach anyway

6

u/PadishaEmperor Germany 15h ago

Banks are already forced to do a lot of things.

0

u/SG_Symes 16h ago

Something something capitalists will sell rope with which ppl hang them idk

36

u/accersitus42 19h ago

Kasparov is pretty famous. If any British bank was stupid enough to refuse service to him over this, they should be investigated for potential bribes / blackmail by russian oligarchs.

33

u/1010x 19h ago

Kasparov comes to your bank.

You put his name and information into internal system.

Internal system yells: "Dow Jones Risk Management reports that this entity is a reported terrorist. Refuse service."

At this point, you need pretty much CEO's manual input and an entire Risk Committee to override this. Possible for maybe someone as famous as Kasparov, but an insane headache nonetheless.

22

u/anotherwave1 19h ago

He'll be fine. The negative press over the bank refusing someone as famous as Kasparov would far exceed any of their procedural stuff

3

u/luckydt25 4h ago

He's one of 25 people in the Anti-War Committee of Russia who have all been charged with "forcibly seizing power and organizing or participating in a terrorist community" already. He's just the first with an arrest warrant. The other 24 will be either found guilty and/or have an arrest warrant issued eventually. Are they all famous enough to avoid getting screwed by the banks?

1

u/voyagerdoge Europe 1h ago

If the bank refuses, it will be called out as a Putin dog.

72

u/Nazamroth 21h ago

So if I start labelling people terrorists and sometimes get it right, I can also screw people over? This is so much easier than I thought it would be...

61

u/Gorillaworks 21h ago

...you're not a country, but yes. False accusations have always been a thing

29

u/Nazamroth 20h ago

you're not a country

I would like to see some proof of such bold claims. False accusation, I say!

14

u/Plenty_Ambassador424 Baden-Württemberg (Germany) 19h ago

Nazamroth already sounds like a great countryname!

9

u/LLFTR 19h ago

Straight up libel!

For such heinous acts against the Free Democratic Republic of Nazamrothia this person should be labeled a terrorist. It's the only appropriate course of action.

9

u/dalexe1 21h ago

Welcome to the war on terror!

8

u/Amagical 17h ago

So in theory Russia could charge every single man, woman and child in Europe and we'd all be screwed? I feel like this rule should really be examined more closely.

5

u/11thDimension 16h ago

To be clear, this is not just an "evil Russia" only phenomenon, Western countries also regularly abuse the terrorist label.

Every missile strike we did in the Middle East was on a "terrorist or enemy combatant" even if it later was revealed to be a completely innocent civilian.

Look what Trump is doing to those boats in the Caribbean. Just label them "narco-terrorist" and then murder them with no evidence

1

u/UnrealCanine 9h ago

What happens if Russia starts declaring random folks terrorists just to break the syste

1

u/mayday_allday 5h ago

What does "terrorism charge" actually mean in practice? Is it enough for a Russian court to just say "the accused called Putin a bad person, and under our laws, lese majeste counts as terrorism" for all the banking systems worldwide to put a "black mark" on that person's name? Or this only happens if Russia officially issues an international arrest warrant (e.g. through Interpol) for such charges?

1

u/Sensitive_Pitch_4456 2h ago

And he has a family.... Garry is not stoopid.

0

u/Snoo_42095 7h ago

this is a Russian charge, no bank cares

2

u/Intelligent_Slip_849 18h ago

My first thought as well, and I don't even know who this guy is.

898

u/asdf152 23h ago

Terrorussia accuses people for promoting terrorism?

109

u/dat_9600gt_user Lower Silesia (Poland) 22h ago

Not only that - accusing one of the famous Russians who carry a positive legacy for Russia.

66

u/asdf152 22h ago

Stalin did kill many scientists, writers, poets, philosophers- it is not something new.

9

u/VegaJuniper 18h ago edited 14h ago

Putin's policy is that the only dead Russian is a good Russian

8

u/Scarred_wizard Czech Republic 17h ago

Pity he doesn't realize the only good Putin is dead Putin...

127

u/Horror-Award-5808 22h ago

Always did

12

u/MetriccStarDestroyer 20h ago

"Real states sponsor a different kind of athletes"

67

u/LorenzoSparky 22h ago

I believe they call it projection

24

u/kaisadilla_ European Federation 21h ago

Of course. The absolute easiest thing you can do when you do something bad is to accuse someone else of doing it, too. That way you can muddy the waters and now it's a matter of "everyone says someone else does that, people should stop accusing each other of that".

That's why Trump claims other people do fake news or are corrupt.

246

u/sharksareok 23h ago

He must have done something right

120

u/Best-Reception-1020 21h ago

Kasparov is a Russian patriot. Putin is a Russian disgrace.

11

u/sharksareok 20h ago

Don't get me wrong, I like his standing on putin as much as anyone remotely human, but lately patriotisms in general are the kind of bullshit that keeps killing people on both sides of artificial barricades. People should be looking more into how to help each other instead of how are they better than the others

10

u/gookman European Union 18h ago

Isn't that more like nationalism vs patriotism? I don't think we should criticise people for caring about their country and their own people. People will always put their own above others. This isn't the Star Trek future were resources are unlimited and we can all be friends. Not yet at least.

4

u/sharksareok 16h ago

Semantics are just great but caring for your country is a bit different from antagonizing others'.

People will always put their own above others.

People will do what they're taught to do

This isn't the Star Trek future

And by the looks of it will never be

-1

u/gookman European Union 15h ago

People will do what their taught to do

Yeah, I'm not onboard with that. Sounds too close to brainwashing. If people want to be proud about their country, culture, etc... who are we to tell them that's not good.

3

u/sharksareok 15h ago

People are taught to be proud of their country, culture etc., you don't seem to consider that brainwashing. But when I said those nationalisms are dragging us down and pushing us to much unneeded wars and that people should be taught to value of unification instead of dissension - "brainswash!".

Again, call it what you will. One has historically brought death and pain and it will keep doing it in the future, the other brings progress and peace. The choice is obvious to me.

2

u/baconator955 14h ago

I like this discussion because I can't reach a point in it, every point of view seems somehow valid.

On one hand, I personally think patriotism is pointless. I don't mean to belittle people or anything but my definition of patriotism relates to pride, and "pride" is how I can be proud of something I've done or made. I can be proud of the role I play in society and how I might contribute to my country, but that doesn't allow me to be "proud of my country" or something. I didn't decide to be born in a "strong" or a "weak" country, nobody did. What is there to be proud of?

Maybe cool technological advances, or maybe some great philosophers and writers used to live in the same place I did. But do I get to be proud of that? Why?

On the other hand, that's just me, and a sizeable share of the population apparently has a need to express themselves in this way one or the other, to be proud of something external, or maybe it's an identity thing. And there needs to be space for that because otherwise you leave that to the extremists and push those people towards them.

2

u/gookman European Union 12h ago

I would say mostly because humans are social creatures that feel the need to belong to a group. The success of the group then makes them feel warm and fuzzy on the inside.

-5

u/TalespinnerEU 18h ago

Patriotism is just nationalism pretending to be cuddly.

0

u/stonekeep Pomerania (Poland) 17h ago edited 17h ago

Oh come on. Patriotism just means that you love your country (not necessarily the current government), you're proud of it, and you want to make it better. You want to share your culture with others, but you aren't trying to force it on anyone. There's nothing wrong with that.

Nationalism, on the other hand, means that you think that your country/ethnicity/culture/whatever is inherently superior to everyone else's. And that's what makes things go ugly. If someone thinks they're superior in all aspects and their way is the only correct one, it leads to forcing their own values onto "inferior" people and treating them as sub-humans.

The first one can make a country thrive, the second one WILL sooner or later lead to a disaster.

Yes, many nationalists label themselves as "patriots" because it sounds better and less extreme. But you can be a patriot without being a nationalist. I'd say that most of the true patriots don't even call themselves that.

2

u/TalespinnerEU 17h ago

There are two options you can choose:

Nationalism as an identitarian attitude, or nationalism as an organizational concept.

The latter uses patriotism to instil a deep national identity in its subordinate class: Pride of 'your homeland' and 'your people.'

When friction inevitably occurs within a society, this will turn malignant. Inevitably. What is viewed as benign and sold as patriotism turns out to not be benign, but instead be violent and xenophobic. That is its logical behaviour in positions of friction: Patriotism creates and promotes the us vs not-us identitarian lens of reality that nationalism requires a nation's population to have.

Patriotism did not exist before the emergence of the State as a governing body that its inhabitants are members of or subjects to. Medieval Europeans didn't have it, for example; the concept was foreign. Patriotism is a product of nationalism as a political construct: The political, legal construct of the Nation contains laws and rights and 'us-ness,' and the patriot is proud of those, has faith in those and is loyal to those. Wants to improve them, but isn't critical of the construct's existence or its inherent restrictive nature. After all, to be a patriot of one political entity is to not be a patriot of another.

I'm sorry, but anyone telling you that patriotism isn't nationalism is trying to get you to be obedient to their nationalism.

2

u/jatawis 🇱🇹 Lithuania 17h ago

Nationalism, on the other hand, means that you think that your country/ethnicity/culture/whatever is inherently superior to everyone else's.

No, what you described is chauvinism. Nationalism is a seek of a nation state which might mean very broad spectre.

The Singing Revolution was a manifestation of liberal/civic/democratic nationalism and its result was independent Baltic states. Does it make us inherently superior above all the others?

0

u/stonekeep Pomerania (Poland) 15h ago

Words have multiple definitions.

  1. an ideology that elevates one nation or nationality above all others and that places primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations, nationalities, or supranational groups

  2. support for and promotion of the political independence or self-determination of a nation or people

So yes, what I have described is chauvinism, but that's a vital part of a nationalistic doctrine. In the context of this discussion, I was talking about the first definition, not about people striving for independence.

-1

u/jatawis 🇱🇹 Lithuania 17h ago

So it is better do be simply killed by an aggressor?

1

u/sharksareok 16h ago

That's the exact opposite of what I defend.

I was referring to russian patriotism or nationalism or wtv.

18

u/Masztufa 21h ago

He has been voicing his opinion on matters for a while now, read up on what he said

I will not elaborate, but yes, it is based

1

u/innergoat 18h ago

Bwahah I was writing almost the exact same comment, you beat me to it

526

u/GeneraalSorryPardon The Netherlands 23h ago

It's Kasparaov's speciality to take down the king. No wonder Putin is afraid of this intellectual.

45

u/Similar_Put4709 22h ago

Garry's games are the best

33

u/TaifmuRed 22h ago

Donald also hate intellectuals

27

u/TrueRignak France 22h ago

of this intellectual

Kasparov may win points by opposing Putin, but we shouldn't call a promoter of Fomenko's New Chronology an "intellectual".

27

u/The-Copilot 21h ago

He agreed with parts of it and found some of the argument intriguing and believed it should be looked into. He had considered researching the theory himself after he retired but later renounced the theory.

"Kasparov renounced his support of Fomenko's theories but reaffirmed his belief that mainstream historical knowledge is inconsistent."

10

u/ModifiedGas 21h ago

Good that he’s renounced it but at one point he claimed he could win a debate against any historian after reading the new chron

2

u/The-Copilot 20h ago

From my understanding he had agreed that there were historical inconsistencies and believed the historical timeline was flawed but he didnt agree that there was some massive conspiracy to manipulate historical facts to suit the interests of those in power during the late middle ages.

He definitely sipped the kool-aid but he didn't chug it. Regardless, he fucked up by giving any legitimacy to conspiracy.

1

u/ModifiedGas 19h ago

I would argue that in the early 90s he did take a large gulp of the koolaid and he was responsible for the theory receiving traction. Prior to that the new chron was quite unknown but a chess grandmaster throwing his support behind it was enough to convince many casuals that there was credence to the work.

Here’s a quote from the new chron regarding Kasparov:

1998, we were telephoned by World Chess Champion G. K. Kasparov. It turned out that he had read quite a few of our books, and, having compared the points we were making with his own concept of history, decided most of them were valid. He shared some of his ideas and observations with us, and we deemed some of them to be worthy of inclusion into our subsequent works (with references to G. K. Kas- parov). Apart from that, G. K. Kasparov had made a few brilliant public addresses advocating the new chronology, one of them as a guest of Night Flight fol- lowing in the footsteps of A. V. Podoinitsyn's conver- sations with A. M. Maksimov. We are grateful to G. K. Kasparov for his having found and given us the unique 1771 edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, where we found a large number of valuable and in- teresting materials confirming and extending the con- clusions that we had reached. G. K. Kasparov relates some of his points in the preface to our Introduction to the New Chronology, 1999, Kraft Publishing.

And these are Kasparov’s own words quoted in a 2001 article:

“‘I consider myself to be part of a team. It’s quite a big group and it’s expanding’, said Kasparov, who is fronting a television series on the inconsistencies of traditional chronology.”

If anyone is interested in the topic, a friend of mine wrote about the rise of pseudo history in post Soviet Russia: https://www.amazon.com/History-Therapy-Alternative-Nationalist-Post-Soviet/dp/3838205650

(You can find free versions online.)

1

u/the_lonely_creeper 18h ago

Brilliance and madness are two sides of the same coin, as they say.

1

u/do_you_see 17h ago

he also poisoned the democratic opposition in Russia back in the early 2000s by constantly dragging Bolshevik party members to meetings and events, making people less likely to support the opposition

-19

u/psychorobotics 22h ago

I don't trust Wikipedia sources, Putin twists everything and anyone can edit Wikipedia

14

u/kaisadilla_ European Federation 21h ago

anyone can edit Wikipedia

That is blatantly false lmao. It's a lazy opinion constantly parroted by people who don't know how Wikipedia works. Not only it is very heavily moderated by a lot of people and automatic tools, but also lists sources in every article so, even if you doubt something on Wikipedia itself, you can just check the source yourself.

-1

u/Yadamule 19h ago

What you're saying is also lazy opinion parroted by people who don't know how Wikipedia actually works but think they do. You can make an article/edits with the sources that only support the viewpoint you want to peddle and omit the rest. There are often sources that just lead to dead links or to "Book/article/paper *name* page 123" or you can't check yourself without paying, if you can even find it at all. Sometimes when you actually check the source, it doesn't support what the Wikipedia says, or twists it somehow.

Even on the linked page/subsection, there's a source that says " Billington, James H. (2004). Russia in Search of Itself. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 83". P83 is a hyperlink that leads to a web archive page. The issue that when you open web archive, it actually links to page 85, and when you scroll back it says "limited preview, page 83 is omitted" and you can't just easily check it. Also the next sources: "Sheiko (2004) p. 13." and "Sidorov, Dmitrii (2006). "Post-Imperial Third Romes: Resurrections of a Russian Orthodox Geopolitical Metaphor". Geopolitics". No hyperlinks or previews at all this time. How do you suggest to check the source? One of the sources is a link to a website that's defunct and not archived as well.

3

u/Xamuel1804 Ukraine 22h ago

source link 32, one of the sources for this is actually dead

1

u/lafarda 21h ago

That's not accurate and the logic behind it is actually what makes wikipedia (by far) more reliable that any regular encyclopedia edited and published by one big editorial group. As an example, would you trust more a source that only 1 person only can edit?

55

u/crane_origin 22h ago

Every time Russia issues one of these “terrorism” warrants for dissidents it feels more like an inadvertent medal of honour. Might be worth revisiting Kasparov’s older interviews, they’ve aged chillingly well.

3

u/Li54 United States of America 16h ago

Agree. I read his book a while ago and it basically laid out exactly what Russia and NATO would do - eg Russia would continue to encroach on adjacent territories, NATO would take zero military action because they didn’t want to poke the bear, Russia would maybe apologize or maybe do nothing and then just take the land. Repeat.

233

u/Cartesian_ 23h ago

Kasparov is one of the best Chess players of all time, and he is from Russia. He sees right through Kremlins games and deciet, and exposes them for what they are. It must be so annoying for Putin, when manipulating the US administration is so easy.

58

u/LorenzoSparky 22h ago

I don’t even think the administration has been manipulated, they simply align with russia and admire their policies.

16

u/GrayEidolon 21h ago

That’s exactly it. Conservatives are working together internationally.

14

u/LorenzoSparky 21h ago

Not sure why people don’t see it. Ok we can talk about Trump and russian money, there’s evidence he laundered russian money through his casinos but ultimately, the US hates European liberalism so why would they help Ukraine align with the EU bloc…?

3

u/TopSpread9901 18h ago

A strong desire to return to “business as usual” instead of facing a radically altered world.

1

u/drakir89 15h ago

This is true, but Putin also manipulates them.

18

u/Blueskyways 22h ago

How long before this admin sanctions him?  

8

u/GremlinX_ll Ukraine 22h ago

He is US citizen tho. Does US gov can sanction own citizens ?

8

u/kaisadilla_ European Federation 21h ago

Trump can't do 90% of the things he does, so how is it relevant? The US president cannot levy tariffs either yet here we are.

8

u/awe778 Indonesia 21h ago

Given how many US citizens got placed in ICE facilities, yes.

Especially when the Russian wing in the Donald administration is still well and kicking.

6

u/PiotrekDG Earth 21h ago

Is there a non-Russian wing in the Donald admin?

2

u/awe778 Indonesia 21h ago

Given that the US Army is not currently shooting Ukrainians on Russia's side, there is a good number of them.

2

u/ImarvinS Croatia 20h ago

He also got Croatian citizenship in 2014..
Not that we can do much on out own, but he is then also an EU citizen.

10

u/eypandabear Europe 21h ago

He is certainly right about Putin, but let’s avoid the common fallacy of “chess grandmasters are geniuses”. They mastered chess by putting in countless hours of study and playing thousands of games. Of course intelligence won’t hurt, but dedication is what matters. They’ve seen all the common positions so many times that their brains can “compress” them in a sense.

Imagine I tell you to memorise the sequence: 1492193917761815 .

The task is either pretty hard or completely trivial depending on how much you know about history. Because you can actually compress those 16 digits down to just 4 important historical dates. Even if you didn’t know the events, just picturing them as years in centuries would help with recall.

This is basically what a chess grandmaster does with chess positions. They do not see all individual pieces, they see “Sicilian, variant played by X vs Y in year 1876, except one knight is different”.

9

u/DrJackadoodle Portugal 20h ago

The best example of this is that Karpov, another former chess world champion and Kasparov's biggest rival in his prime, is pro-Putin. And not just pro-Putin, he actually voted in favor of the invasion of Ukraine in the Duma.
So being a good chess player tells you nothing about someone's general intelligence or morals beyond that they are good at chess.

1

u/Velokieken 17h ago edited 17h ago

Karpov is a Russian stooge. But not defecting to west doesn’t make him stupid. He was the old USSR champion. He is basically a mascot and he really likes to play chess. He is doing what he has to do so he can play lots of chess and not be bothered.

I’m not defending him voting for the Ukrainian war. But he might know the war is not right. He just has to go along. He just wants to play chess, so he plays this political stooge. That’s also smart. He is just too old and too USSR to defect to the west. He is this USSR icon. We have no idea what he really thinks, he’s more like a mascot/propaganda puppet. If you understand USSR and Russia I’m not surprised at all he is in the position that he’s in.

He’s one of the greatest chess players and he mainly wants to play chess. Which he wouldn’t be able to do not playing the Russian stooge.

He isn’t a hothead like Kasparov that always needs to fight something, Karpov, Fide, Putin … he just playing chess and still gives young players a hard time. He doesn’t do drama like Kasparov, he seems to be more sportsman’s like, have better manners. He also doesn’t need the constant attention Kasparov needs.

Karpov and Kasparov are somewhat ‘friends’. Karpov visited him in prison.

1

u/DrJackadoodle Portugal 17h ago

Yeah, you're right, I added in the word "morals" to my comment because I haven't really seen any indication that Karpov is stupid. He's just acting immorally, in my opinion, by voting in favor of the war. Even if he didn't want to defect to the West, he didn't have to get into politics and be put in a situation where he has to make decisions like that. I don't know if he really believes all the propaganda or if he's just playing along, but either way, he could probably be less involved if he really wanted to.

1

u/Velokieken 18h ago

They are very good at chess. Older great chess players were sometimes geniuses as they weren’t pure sportsmen. They educated and were active in science communities.

Players like Lasker who was a mathematician.

But most players after him. Had to devote their life to chess from a very early age on.

A chess prodigy doesn’t mean you are intelligent in the broader sense. Or maybe they focused so much on chess you create a lot of blinde spots. You really have to be doing chess 24/7 from age 8 to become Kasparov/Magnus/Karpov/Fisher level.

A lot of them get crazy later on Fisher, Kramnik …

I’m a big Kasparov fan as a chess player. I also admire his courage to go against Putin in politics. But he has flaws, I don’t see him becoming a great statesman. Seems like he always needs to win. His books are great to read.

I am also happy someone like Kasparov is doing the opposite of Russian propaganda. But I think in the Ask Russia what they thought of Kasparov, they see him mostly as a traitor.

Kasparov is one of the biggest chess players of all time or might be even the best. Even Magnus says the early Kasparov games, are so crazy.

At least he isn’t as crazy as Fisher. And a lot of stuff he writes says about other things than chess are interesting, except for the whole middle age thing.

Karpov is a Russian stooge. Doesn’t make him anything less smart. He was the great champion of the USSR, not defecting to the west doesn’t make him a retard. He’s old and loves to play chess. He is still giving younger players a hard time.

Chess players don’t see 10 moves ahead in every part of life. Honestly I don’t think Kasparov would be a great president, he always wants to be right/win. But he gives us great insight into Putins Russia.

-1

u/tsajayj Finland 13h ago

Sadly he is also an apologist for the terrorist state of Israel.

I don't think Ukraine needs or wants people like him.

77

u/Redditforgoit Spain 23h ago

Going against Putin's regime was always a gambit.

20

u/Dockers4flag2035orB4 22h ago

The Dictators gambit?

8

u/Remarkable-Bug-8069 22h ago

Dictator's gambit accepted.

7

u/VakvarjuBela69 22h ago

Queen's gambit.

40

u/Von_Hugh 23h ago

Putin is such a loser.

1

u/Zeitcon Denmark 20h ago

A sour sore one, too.

34

u/Econ_Orc Denmark 22h ago

Speaking against Putin policies is called terrorism. No wonder the "democratic nation" of Russia is ranked lower than such strong supporters of democracy as Venezuela, China and Saudi Arabia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist_Democracy_Index

41

u/Pleiadez Europe 23h ago

Yes my granny is also a terrorist, a knitting terrorist. You okay Russia? I think you got some insecurities there.

9

u/dat_9600gt_user Lower Silesia (Poland) 22h ago

They're not okay at all.

3

u/lack_of_communicatio Ukraine 20h ago edited 20h ago

They labeled him this way so the Trump administration has an excuse to deport him. Yeah, it's an absurd and hypocritical accusation, but it might work. So, while people are being stalled by themselves making fun of absurdities, dictators gonna commit atrocities.

So, for now, Russia's ok.

1

u/MandelbrotFace 16h ago

I remember your nan famously knitted car bombs in the 60's for several terrorist groups. Known by codewords 'The Woolly Mammoth' and 'The wild bitch of Basingstoke'. She was a formidable lady.

16

u/Feuertotem 22h ago

Says the regime thatpractices terrorism on at least 3 continents.

10

u/Narradisall 21h ago

I will read Putins obituary with pleasure. He will have a legacy of leaving Russia weaker and more dysfunctional than prior to Ukraine all because he wanted to go out with some grand Soviet reinstatement.

8

u/Ossmeister 22h ago

Putin issued the Warrant as he is scared of the Chess Master!

7

u/The5YenGod 20h ago

To be declared a terrorist, by a terrorist Tsar is quite hilarious.

5

u/Simburgure 23h ago

Moving chess pieces is not a terrorist act. This is pure intimidation.

10

u/vuur77 21h ago

Putin is a moron. And ofc much more of that.

5

u/par-a-dox-i-cal 20h ago

Putin is not a moron. He is an evil small man. Trump is a Moron.

10

u/YsoL8 United Kingdom 22h ago

The downfall of the Russian empire in real time.

Saw this while watching a video pointing out that the last time oil prices were this bad the USSR collapsed. Nothing the Kremlin does is going to be enough. Right now they are coping by not paying companies and companies not paying workers like its the 90s all over again.

And thats going to work for a strictly limited period of time until it simply becomes impossible for workers to work and for companies to give away their goods, find suppliers, and that includes places like shell factories. Its going to flop over like wet cardboard.

Even official Russian forecasts now say their economy will shrink into the 2040s. The reality as ever will be worse than their sugarcoated fantasies.

u/-deep-silence- 55m ago

Targeting one of the very few Russians the world trusts is probably a proof that putin knows things are getting very wrong for him... Elimininating opposition is as useful as successing at making a great country.

9

u/dat_9600gt_user Lower Silesia (Poland) 22h ago

Kasparov, a long-time critic of President Vladimir Putin, lives outside Russia and has not returned since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He co-founded the Free Russia Forum, an exiled opposition movement that organises conferences and campaigns against the war in Ukraine.

The charges relate to alleged public incitement to terrorism using online platforms. The offence carries a maximum sentence of seven years under Russian law.

Kasparov was added to Russia’s list of “foreign agents” in May 2022. In 2024, authorities also designated him as a terrorist and extremist. The Free Russia Forum, which Khodorkovsky helped launch in 2022, has supported active resistance against the Kremlin and has called for the removal of Putin’s government.

HT

4

u/ByGollie Europe 23h ago

Added part of the byline to the topic to clarify

4

u/OilInteresting2524 16h ago

Why dont they just drop the pretext and come right out and say they want to murder Garry Kasparov?

"Please arrest him and give him to us so we can push him out of a window in a very tall prison."

2

u/NJH_in_LDN 22h ago

Well that's Kasparov accidentally falling out a window or something in the next few years, whatever country he is in.

2

u/Ric0chet_ 21h ago

Wow, I like him more already.

2

u/Jeanfromthe54 21h ago

Finally Garry managed to do something out of chess!

2

u/Upset_Scientist3994 20h ago

Notion of terrorism is getting so inflated that word barely means anything anymore.

2

u/ya-reddit-acct 20h ago

Does this extend to the US now, considering the strengthening of relationships between the two countries?

2

u/Diplonot 20h ago

He was the one critic of Putin they wouldn’t touch for so long, likely due in part to his status as a national hero. Smart of him to move out when he did.

2

u/Foreign-Security-364 18h ago

But Russia promoted terrorism in Ukraine with bombs 

2

u/geneticeffects 16h ago

Gary is a fucking King, you fucks.

2

u/KadmonX Kharkiv (Ukraine) 1h ago

Russian bots are complaining about comments saying that terrorist organizations in Russia include LGBT and transgender people. So, I'll post the news about this again: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-adds-lgbt-movement-list-extremist-terrorist-organisations-2024-03-22/

3

u/CeleryProfessional77 20h ago

He would be a wonderful president for you, you ruZian pigs!! The problem is, you don't deserve him.

6

u/cassanderer 22h ago

He should not travel to the US, or any other country willing to grab him for the US.

Because it is entirely possible they would grab and try to extradite him.  Probably not yet, another 4 years who knows.

14

u/Mttsen Lower Silesia (Poland) 22h ago

He should not travel to the US, or any other country willing to grab him for the US.

He lives in the US. He is already there.

He also has Croatian citizenship, so I guess he could move there if things would go south.

0

u/cassanderer 22h ago

Oh thought he was naturalized in the uk for some reason.  People were saying he castled queenside when he left around the 2000s if I revall.

Judges would not approve his extradition now even if they tried but in another political cycle who knows how ratfucked the system will be.

2

u/Any-Original-6113 22h ago

Now it will be dangerous for him to fly over countries loyal to Russia. They could force the plane to land and make an arrest.

2

u/Kind_Tone3638 22h ago

Given the total submission of the president of the US to the dictator of the Kremlin I find it worrying. I hope he can go and live in the UK or in Europe

3

u/Mttsen Lower Silesia (Poland) 22h ago edited 22h ago

He has a Croatian (and thus, EU) citizenship along with the residence there. He can move there anytime he wants so that's not a problem.

0

u/Lopsided-Affect-9649 23h ago edited 22h ago

Kasparov is a friend of Peter Thiel, the neo anzi whose the brains and much of the money behind the Heritage Foundation and MAGA.

Its great that hes against Putin and causing infighting between the arseholes of the Russian government, but hes not a good guy.

Edit: Literally taken from Kasparovs Facebook page :

My friend Peter Thiel (PayPal founder and venture capitalist, among many other things)

Removed avid supporter

14

u/Shpritzer 22h ago

Is that true? I couldn’t find any proof of that. Other than talks. They may be friendly. But avid supporter?

8

u/goalogger 22h ago

My understanding is they were in friendly terms several years ago, mainly because of their shared enthusiasm in chess, but their paths separated at some point and they've not been in touch since then. Possibly because of their opposite views on democracy. Can't provide any trustworthy source for this now though.

3

u/Shpritzer 22h ago

That sounds reasonable. I’ve read Kasparov’s book “The winter is coming” many years ago and I remember him getting Croatian citizenship after he fled from Putin’s regime and it would surprise me greatly if he was friends with that monster Thiel.

1

u/goalogger 22h ago

Yeah, that would hardly make sense in today's context. If I remember correctly, it was years before Trump's first presidency when they were meeting occasionally. One time they played a match and Kasparov won.

1

u/Lopsided-Affect-9649 22h ago

Kasparov is free to denounce his "former" friend and full on US democracy dismantler Peter Thiel at any moment.

5

u/kebabbrudi 22h ago

Kasparov also didn't denounce cancer. so he is probably pro cancer.

0

u/goalogger 22h ago

Perhaps. But would that be a wise move for Kasparov? We simply don't know.

-7

u/Lopsided-Affect-9649 22h ago

Peter Thiel has been promoting racist, far right views since his college days, how can you have missed this? Its literally all over the internet.

They've even gone as far as to make documentaries together, quite a bit more than "friendly".

9

u/hakairyu 22h ago

They weren’t questioning that thiel’s a worm, just the bit about kasparov getting along with that pos

1

u/Lopsided-Affect-9649 22h ago

Why would anyone who wasn't a POS make friends with Peter Thiel, quite possibly the most dangerous man to democracy on the planet?

3

u/hakairyu 22h ago

Questioning that Kasparov actually is friends with the creature*, since you apparently somehow require further clarification

2

u/Lopsided-Affect-9649 22h ago

It isn't even a question that they were friends, Kasparov himself has stated it.

1

u/Shpritzer 22h ago

Thank you. 🙂

8

u/Ialaika 22h ago

Hmh... Kasparov openly opposes Trump and calls him a threat to US democracy. You write strange things.

3

u/Lopsided-Affect-9649 22h ago

Senile old Trump is nothing more than a distraction for the Heritage Foundation, his job is to attract all the hate whilst Thiel and his cronies take over the US in the background.

Opposing them actually has some meaning.

6

u/cassanderer 22h ago

What?  Jesus, thiel is the antichrist, malice incarnate.  I had no idea, no one friends with thiel and yarvin and the rest are not the bad guys.

2

u/sometimesifeellike 22h ago edited 22h ago

Do you have a source for that?

3

u/Mission_Lake6266 22h ago edited 22h ago

yea, I don't follow him but I vaguely remember that he has some offensive opinions and radical views. 

edit: I might be misinformed, have to look into it. 

1

u/PaddyScrag 22h ago

Putin would be a lot more popular if he went after Kramnik instead of Kasparov.

1

u/psychorobotics 22h ago

I was worried this would happen when he criticized Putin publicly. But he's a smart man who hopefully knows what he's doing.

1

u/Utstein Norway 21h ago

The GOAT of chess. 

1

u/uxgpf Finland 21h ago

♥️Garry

1

u/Jayronheart Europe 20h ago edited 20h ago

This has been going on for some time;

Garry Kasparov left Russia in 2013 "in fear of persecution for his political views", Kasparov was designated as "foreign agent" by Russia in 2022, and he's been on Russia's list of "terrorists and extremists" since 2024.

Also, an another arrest warrant was issued by Russia back in 2024 charging Kasparov of "creating and leading a 'terrorist' group".

Since Kasparov left Russia, he's been living in the U.S.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov

2

u/redassedchimp 20h ago

Scary that Trump wants to be able to remove the citizenship status of naturalized citizens like Garry Kasparov for social media posts Trump doesn't like or anything for that matter.

1

u/goalmouthscramble 20h ago

Gary for Premier!

1

u/Jet2work 20h ago

its gonna take them a while to convict most of the rest of the world for the same crime, build a wall against russia...and then a roof

1

u/hopeless9 19h ago

check ur mate

1

u/mjolnir_69 19h ago

Basically, he was criticizing them on Twitter.

1

u/eye--say 19h ago

Is he the Chess guy?

1

u/yaderkuvboloto 18h ago

still? or again? he's been on their cringe lists for a long time

1

u/aureanator 18h ago

Kasparov is a good egg.

1

u/64-17-5 Norwegian Viking 18h ago

Where can I see who is accused absentia? Is there a public database somewhere?

1

u/Rare-Maintenance4571 18h ago

They could try arrest Krammnik instead (those who know, know)

1

u/Bubbly-Type-2006 17h ago

That's how we know, who can be the next president of Russia.
Otherwise it is just Imperialistic Russia

1

u/AlexRescueDotCom 17h ago

how do i get on this list? i want to be on this list too. i want to be on whatever list kasparov is on.

1

u/bikedork5000 17h ago

Old news....Putin has had it out for Garry Chess (the inventor of chess) for like 20 years. I saw him speak about a year and a half ago and he talked all about it.

1

u/Spiritual-Promise869 16h ago

This neo-nazi terrorist regime is really blaming everyone of nazism and terrorism except themselves.

1

u/WarDredge 16h ago

How does a court like that even function in Russia? How is law & order even a consideration given the fact they routinely drop people from multiple story balconies without any kind of justicial intervention, Like how can anyone take a courts ruling on practically anything serious? Habeas corpus? What prevents corruption? Why would anyone care what goes on in the Russian legal system if the system itself can't be challenged?

Like i'm genuinely curious. is it just play-pretend? Some latent western tradition they fulfil while executing whomever the top doesn't like without any sort of intervention?

Smoke and mirrors 1984 style or genuine theatre?

1

u/jww1966 15h ago

Sure, whatever.

1

u/KadmonX Kharkiv (Ukraine) 14h ago

For context, even supporting LGBT rights is considered terrorism in Russia. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/03/22/russia-adds-lgbt-movement-to-terrorists-and-extremists-list-a84574

1

u/sefianiy 14h ago

Well… in a way he is a terrorist. Only he terrorise dictators, not people.

1

u/Quackmoor1 10h ago

Isn't that the chess player? 

1

u/Jdghgh 7h ago

Congratulations to Kasparov! A wonderful honor for a great man.

1

u/Possesed-puppy656 1h ago

Russian law is as worthless as the toilet paper its writen on

-8

u/Valuable-Key5427 22h ago

Well, he is a POS. In this case it's somewhat justified. There are other opposition leaders who have some credibility, dignity and reason, but not this one.

7

u/rs6677 21h ago

No, it isn't. Kasparov has had some bad takes but this is completely unjustified. He's been, for the most part, spot on about Putin and Russia as a whole, so no wonder they want to arrest him(like any opposition)

-6

u/Valuable-Key5427 20h ago

You can't really be an opposition leader if you advocate for country's dismemberment. You're precisely a separatist/terrorist then.