Russia lists legend chess player Garry Kasparov as terrorists

The Russian financial watchdog (Rossfinmonitoring) has added the name of chess legend Garry Kasparov to the list of terrorists and extremists. 60-year-old Garry Kasparov has been a staunch opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin for a long time. Human rights groups have expressed strong reaction to the inclusion of Kasparov in the list of terrorists. He says that this is a tactic of the Russian government to silence its critics.

Vladimir Putin has been the target of harsh criticism from Garry Kasparov. He serves as a mirror for Putin and frequently criticises his policies on social media. He was constantly pictured opposing Putin, even during the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. These factors have led to the inclusion of Kasparov's name on the terrorist list.

People view Garry Kasparov as a strong supporter of democratic reforms. Garry Kasparov and his family were victims of ethnic violence in Baku when the Soviet Union fell apart in 1990. Garry Kasparov played chess for a very long time. At the young age of twelve, he won the Soviet Union's Under-18 Chess Championship. He gave up playing chess in 2005.

Garo Kasparov had the honour of becoming world champion for the first time by defeating Anatoly Karpov of Soviet Russia in 1985. At that time he was only 22 years old. In his career spanning over 20 years, he was the world's number one player for most of the time. He remained on top for 255 months, which is a world record.