Former world chess champion and Kremlin critic Garry Kasparov has been put to the list of “terrorists and extremists” by Russia’s financial monitoring agency, Rosfinmonitoring, according the RIA news agency on Wednesday.
Those on the Rosfinmonitoring watchdog’s list may have their bank accounts confiscated without a prior court order as part of the watchdog’s efforts to combat money laundering and terror funding.
Considered by experts as one of the best chess players ever, Kasparov left Russia in 2014 because of fear of retaliation for his criticism of Vladimir Putin, whom he defined “the world’s most dangerous man”. Now 60, he has spent more than ten years living and working in the United States, where he has concentrated on political activism.
Kasparov and former oil billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky were already included on the Russian justice ministry’s list of “foreign agents” in 2022, putting them under onerous bureaucracy that included financial reporting.
In 2008, Kasparov attempted to run for president of Russia but withdrew due to “obstruction.” He remarked in February of last year that the defeat of Moscow was a “pre-condition” for Ukraine’s democratic transition in Russia and encouraged the West to continue supporting Kyiv.
