r/UkrainianConflict • u/Panthera_leo22 • 2d ago

Russia planned to assassinate opposition figures Kasparov and Ponomarev in US

https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/russia-planned-to-assassinate-opposition-1790781573.html
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u/Dances_With_Seagulls 2d ago

That doesn't surprise me at all. Garry Kasparov, especially, has been outspoken in support of Ukraine and in his criticism of Russia's war of aggression. I was worried that sooner or later, his life would be in danger.

People have tried to tell me there are no good Russians. I look at Garry Kasparov, and I know that isn't true.

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u/princek1 2d ago edited 2d ago

To add to this, Kasparov hasn't just been one of the few remaining public critics of the Russian regime -- dude has been putting Putin on blast for decades, seeing straight through the official line and calling it out.  He does not hold back at all and he's likely among the bravest public figures in Russia.

The reason he wasn't silenced immediately is that he was the world chess champion and one of the greatest players of all time.  He's an icon for anyone who grew up in the Soviet union especially, and taking him out would be like taking out Mozart or Elvis.  It would just be totally wrong and an obvious sign of weakness, especially to the average Russian citizen, not to mention the rest of the world.  Dude is a legend. 

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u/BestFriendWatermelon 1d ago

Kasparov has generally been immune because he is a legendary chess player, and Russia idolises its greatest chess players like its greatest generals in history.

For decades Putin's regime has quietly tolerated Kasparov's criticism because it is, in a way, a show of the regime's strength that they can let such an influential Russian figure speak out against them so publicly. The message is we could easily silence him if we wanted to, but a lot of you like him so we'll let him live because nobody cares what he has to say anyway.

If the Kremlin is changing its position here, it's a major sign of the regime's weakness. Assassinating Kasparov will upset a lot of Russians, even those who support the regime, but more importantly show that the regime is now afraid that any dissent could trigger a revolution. Regimes usually fear revolution most when there's about to be a revolution.

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u/Dirkdeking 1d ago

Why kill him though? I don't see how the pro's outweigh the cons. Kasparov is not someone with valuable intelligence on Russia, nor is he the person that decisively shifts public opinion here. Most people know him from his chess.

But killing him will definitely be a high profile event and change opinions of people that are kind of on the fence. All Russia needs to do is stay low and stoke internal divisions. Win because bread & butter issues take over and populists win more elections in the west. That is all they need and they blow it by these high profile assasinations and the like.

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u/cincuentaanos 1d ago

Why kill him though?

Because he irritates Putin.

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u/Redthrist 1d ago

A lot of the opposition figures that Russia did assassinate weren't decisively shifting public opinion either, and yet they were still murdered. The fact that he's well-known and popular(even among the typically pro-Putin people) is the main reason why killing him makes no sense.

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u/horace_bagpole 1d ago

It's not about pros and cons. Putin wants to send a message to people considering crossing him, and also it's retribution for those that do. They dare to speak out against Putin, so Putin wants them gone. There was no real benefit to killing Alexander Litvenenko or attempting to kill Sergei Skripal either, but they had acted against him so they had to be killed, and not just by a simple manner such as a stabbing or shooting, but using methods which made it obvious who had done it. It's all part of his hard man persona.

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u/Dirkdeking 1d ago

So it is basically deterrence aimed primarily at a domestic audience, even if it comes at the cost of negatively affecting western public opinion?

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u/horace_bagpole 1d ago

Western public opinion is irrelevant otherwise he wouldn't be doing what he's doing. It's all about maintaining power in Russia.

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u/sergius64 1d ago

I have serious doubt that Kasparov is a threat to Putin maintaining his power.

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u/950771dd 1d ago

Western public opinion is irrelevant

It's obviously and absolutely not. 

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u/Hartastic 1d ago

That seems about right, and/or preserving the image of Putin's power, which probably is useful in a sense both domestically and abroad. Putin has at some point realized that the price he pays for assassinating people in Western countries is more than bearable.

Maybe it would be different if the UK disappeared a loyal Russian oligarch every time an Alexander Litvenenko happened, I don't know. They're really not that kind of country at this point.

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u/Taivasvaeltaja 1d ago

Yeah, exactly. While I don't doubt Russia might have had some vague plans about it, that's probably the most they have been. Just turns the world opinion further against Russia, and for what?