Kasparov: Ukraine victory needed for any real change in Russia

Garry Kasparov, a leading Russian opposition figure and former world chess champion, said that Ukraine's victory is a necessary precondition for any meaningful political change in Russia. Without Moscow's defeat, the country's current regime and imperial system will remain intact, he argues.

The Russian antiwar opposition today is largely in exile. It is far from unified — the main divide runs along the question of how much support to give Ukraine. In an interview with ERR, Garry Kasparov spoke about how, in his view, the current Russian authorities can be weakened and how Ukraine's victory can be brought closer.

Three years ago, you told me in an interview that the basic criterion for defining a "good Russian" should be agreement with the formula "the war is criminal, the regime is illegitimate, Crimea is Ukraine." At the time, you estimated that about 25% of Russian émigrés were willing to sign on to these views. Has that proportion changed now?

It has probably grown somewhat, but I'm still not sure we're a majority. The situation is dynamic — it's changing. But this is the first and necessary step, and it's codified in the Berlin Declaration1. The document is longer, of course, but it boils down to this triad: the war is criminal, the regime is illegitimate, Crimea is Ukrainian. It's important to note that a significant portion of people who consider themselves part of the Russian democratic opposition still haven't signed it. They say various things — "we don't like this," "this is Khodorkovsky's project," and so on. But we understand that they simply cannot bring themselves to agree that Crimea is Ukrainian, to recognize Ukraine's sovereignty, and to accept that this is not just Putin's war, but Russia's war.

One can discuss the reasons for this attitude: some hope to take part in future Russian elections, others are fundamentally unwilling to cross that line. The same goes for the flag. For me, someone who believes the Russian tricolor can be rehabilitated is on the other side of the barricades, no matter what rhetoric they use. I myself played under the tricolor back in 1990. Back then it was a revolutionary, anti-imperial flag. But in reality it was anti-Soviet, not anti-imperial. And our Free Russia Forum believes it's time to move from the Berlin Declaration to the Strasbourg one. The Strasbourg Declaration says those who want change in Russia must fight on Ukraine's side.

Fight — literally? Not just support Ukraine rhetorically, but actually join the Ukrainian armed forces?

There are many ways to fight. I've raised enough money for Ukrai