World chess champion, opponent of Vladimir Putin, and now… “Terrorist”.
Garry Kasparov has been placed by Moscow on the list of people considered “terrorists and extremists”.
Two of many labels used by the Kremlin to pursue opponents.
Terrorists and extremists
Accusations of “extremism” and “terrorism” are frequently associated with opponents, according to a report published in February by Amnesty International, for which the border between the two is poorly demarcated.
Like Garry Kasparov, people accused of these two crimes “are generally included in a special public register, before any trial, which has the effect of cutting off almost all access to essential banking services”, it is indicated in the document.
The reasons for the inclusion of the former world chess champion in this register have not been detailed by Moscow.
Now exiled in the United States, he was accused in December of having organized auctions to finance battalions of Russian citizens, who fight alongside the Ukrainian army, itself considered terrorist by the Kremlin, recalls however Russian news agency Tass.
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
Established by the Federal Financial Surveillance Service, this list included, according to the NGO, 13,647 names in December 2023, including 11,286 for “terrorism”.
The bank accounts of those listed there are frozen and their monthly spending is limited to 10,000 rubles (equivalent to 110 US dollars).
A sanction which is similar to a form of “extrajudicial” conviction, denounces Amnesty International.
In its report, the NGO also indicates that the number of people convicted of crimes linked to terrorism - but not for having directly committed attacks - has increased 50-fold over the last ten years.
Among these crimes is the “justification of terrorism”, created in 2006 to punish “public calls for, justification or propaganda of terrorism”.
Punishable by sentences of up to five years in prison, it has notably been used to convict “dozens” of people who have shown any support for the Ukrainian armed forces, according to Amnesty International.
Accusations of “extremism”, the definition of which is vague, have also been used to target civil society organizations, including that of Alexeï Navalny or the “international LGBT movement”.
“The objective is to criminalize their activities and to dissuade those who would like to join them,” judges Olga Propokieva, president of the Russia-Libertés association, which works from France to raise awareness of the state of rights and freedoms in Russia.
Foreign agents
Before being included on the list of “terrorists and extremists”, Garry Kasparov was already considered in Russia as a “foreign agent”.
Initially reserved for organizations financed from abroad, this status has gradually been expanded.
It now extends to individuals, including journalists or artists, accused of being “under foreign influence”.
885 natural or legal persons were affected by this status in January, according to OVD-Info, a Russian human rights NGO.
Their number has continued to increase in recent years: 283 new “foreign agents” were added to the list in 2023, compared to 211 in 2022 and 128 in 2021.
Read alsoRussia: how Moscow uses the status of foreign agent to ruin the lives of opponents
In particular, they are required to report their status in all their publications on social networks, which has the effect of “discrediting their words in the eyes of society”, believes Olga Propokieva.
They must also report on their participation in any public event and present, every three months, details of their expenses and income.
“I no longer have a private life because the Ministry of Justice knows literally everything about me, even the brand of the tampons I use,” explained a journalist, considered a “foreign agent”, in 2021 to the Russian media Meduza.
Undesirable organizations
The Russian authorities consider foreign organizations “undesirable” which, according to them, represent a “threat to Russia”.
NGOs such as Greenpeace, WWF, or Transparency International have notably been designated as such.
The French association Russia-Libertés has also been “undesirable” in Russia since February.
“As president, I risk up to seven years in prison if I am arrested,” Olga Propokieva explains to Parisian.
Anyone who participates in or finances our activities from Russia may also be prosecuted.”
⚡️⚡️ Russia-Liberties was today designated “undesirable” by the Putin regime.
This is yet another attack on civil society perpetrated by the Kremlin.
It is also an attack against the 🇫🇷 and French civil society.
➡️ https://t.co/33zkRugpXG
1/4 pic.twitter.com/RlNdktDiYr
— Russia-Liberties (@Rus_Lib) February 1, 2024
“These legal instruments are used by the Kremlin to stifle any dissenting voice,” she continues.
But they also show his weakness: if they did not represent a danger for Putin, these tools would not exist.