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Garry Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, former world chess champion, writer, and political activist, whom many consider to be the greatest chess player of all time. He is also political activist. He formed the United Civil Front movement, and joined as a member of The Other Russia, a coalition opposing the administration and policies of Vladimir Putin. He is currently chairman for the Human Rights Foundation and chairs its International Council. In 2012, Kasparov was arrested and beaten while attending an event with the punk band Pussy Riot.

He believes that if he returns to Russia he will certainly be arrested. On Putin and the American election of 2016, Kasparov says:

At first they were using Trump mostly as an icebreaker. They expected Hillary to win and wanted to discredit her completely. Trump was the perfect vehicle for discrediting not only Hillary but the entire electoral system. Putin’s great advantage is that, unlike Soviet propagandists, he is not selling an ideology. I call him the merchant of doubt. His message is: “We are shit, you are shit, and all of this is bullshit”. What democracy? Trump was the ideal agent of chaos.

We are living in chaos.

Kasparov:

Fascism has come to Russia. Project Putin, just like the old Project Hitler, is but the fruit of a conspiracy by the ruling elite. Fascist rule was never the result of the free will of the people. 

 

Source: The New Yorker – Gary Kasparov interview by Masha Gessen