Kasparov on the Russian elections

Despite growing protests in his country, tomorrow Vladimir Putin will most probably be re-elected as President of Russia. Garry Kasparov is still active in the opposition movement and was interviewed for CNBC.

Don't worry, we won't turn this website into a political platform. But we do know that many chess fans out there are still very much interested in what the 13th World Champion, Garry Kasparov, is involved in these days.

Yesterday Kasparov was interviewed for CNBC about the Russian presidential elections. CNBC is a well-known satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers around the world.

Kasparov started off by saying

I'll be very cautious of calling this 'election'. It's more like a special operation to bring Putin back to the Kremlin. He's in full control of legislation, of mass media. He controls the money. That cannot be spent on opposition without punishment from the government. We all widely expect now the most problematic election process in the modern Russian history. But for the first time, we'll be able in Moscow, to have a parallel count and reveal the real numbers behind Putin's popularity. It's the first time when we have tens and even hundreds of thousands of people in the streets in Russia, and I would call it some kind of revolution. People are sick and tired of Putin's lies, corruption and lack of future. Putin is not facing some opposition groups. He's not facing liberals or nationalists of the left wing groups. He's facing the middle, and the middle class demands free and fair elections and the opportunity to build their own lives without constant interference by Putin's regime.

Like everyone, Kasparov is sure that Putin will be declared the winner on Sunday night, but

I don't think he has any chance of surviving for six years. I think his days are numbered.

You can see the full interview here.