MOSCOW: Former chess champion and anti-Kremlin activist Garry Kasparov has said he is staying out of Russia over fears he could be put on trial, becoming the latest Russian intellectual to leave the homeland amid a crackdown on the opposition.
Kasparov said in Switzerland he would not be returning to Moscow for the moment because he could be investigated for his role in protests against President Vladimir Putin in the last months.
His comments came after prominent liberal economist Sergei Guriyev stepped down from a number of posts and abruptly left Russia for France last month, fearing he could be arrested after being interrogated by investigators.
The departure of the economist raised concerns about a new exodus of the intellectual elite from Putin’s Russia similar to the brain drain endured by the Soviet Union which lost some of its brightest minds.
“I kept traveling back and forth until late February when it became clear that I might be part of this ongoing investigation of the activities of the political protesters,” Kasparov said on Tuesday at a news conference in Geneva.
“Right now, I have serious doubts that if I return to Moscow I may not be able to travel back. So for the time being I refrain from returning to Russia,” Kasparov added.
He said that over the last one and a half years, Russia had seen “a transition from authoritarian style to one-man dictatorship” under Putin’s rule.
The chess legend has in recent years become an impassioned campaigner against Putin and took part in some of the mass opposition protests against his 13 years in power.
Ivan Tyutrin, an activist with the United Civil Front that Kasparov heads, told BBC Russian that investigators had wanted to question Kasparov over his role in May 2012 protests against Putin on the eve of his inauguration.
The spokesman of the Investigative Committee denied that Kasparov had been summoned and said he presented no interest to the investigation.
“This should make Kasparov happy. But maybe it will annoy him,” Vladimir Markin told the state ITAR-TASS news agency.
After a protest last summer, Kasparov was accused by police of biting an officer on the finger but a criminal probe was not opened.
Some bloggers accused Kasparov of abandoning his homeland but the chess master hit back by saying that “Russia is my home even when I am not able to be there.”
“Please, let no one doubt my commitment to the cause of a free and strong Russia, or doubt for one moment that I am working constantly to achieve that goal,” Kasparov wrote on Facebook.
Top opposition politician and former cabinet minister Boris Nemtsov wrote on Facebook that while he would in no way criticize Kasparov, “I have no intention of leaving and will continue to fight.”
Despite his astonishing achievement in dominating world chess in the 1980s and 1990s, the Baku-born Kasparov never won the hearts of a large number of Russians and many were suspicious of his frequent absences abroad.
The exit of dissident writers, artists and scientists was a major blight for the Soviet Union ever since the Bolshevik revolution as great figures sought to pursue careers elsewhere.
The country lost countless figures of historic importance including the novelist Vladimir Nabokov, the poet Joseph Brodsky and the ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov who all forged major careers in the United States.
The departure of Guriyev, who headed the New Economic School and commanded almost universal respect, was greeted with dismay and concern even from some figures close to the Kremlin.
“If Sergei Guriyev does not return to Russia then this will damage Russian economics and Russian civil society,” said former finance minister Alexei Kudrin who remains close to Putin.
Guriyev left Russia as he feared for his freedom after being repeatedly questioned in the Yukos case that sent anti-Kremlin tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky to jail.
Fellow top economist Konstantin Sonin wrote on his blog last month that with the moves of prominent Russian economists Maria Petrova, Ruben Enikolopov and Sergei Popov to foreign universities this year Russia was losing the “color of a whole generation.”
Chess great Kasparov joins exodus from Putin’s Russia
Chess great Kasparov joins exodus from Putin’s Russia
UN plastic treaty talks push for breakthrough as deadline looms
- South Korea is hosting the fifth and final UN Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee meeting to agree globally binding rules on plastics this week
South Korea is hosting the fifth and final UN Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) meeting to agree globally binding rules on plastics this week.
Until Thursday, several delegates from around 175 countries participating had expressed frustration about the slow pace of the talks amid disagreements over procedure, multiple proposals and some negotiations even returning to ground covered in the past.
In an attempt to speed up the process, INC Chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso is holding informal meetings on Friday to try and tackle the most divisive issues.
These issues include curbing plastic products and chemicals of concern, managing the supply of primary polymers, and a financial mechanism to help developing countries implement the treaty.
Petrochemical-producing nations such as Saudi Arabia strongly oppose efforts to target a cap on plastic production, over the protests of countries that bear the brunt of plastic pollution such as low- and middle-income nations.
While supporting an international treaty, the petrochemical industry has also been vocal in urging governments to avoid setting mandatory plastic production caps, and focus instead on solutions to reduce plastic waste, like recycling.
The INC plans an open a plenary session at 7 p.m. (1000 GMT) on Friday that will provide an indication of how close the talks have moved toward a treaty.
New Zealand navy vessel hit reef, sank after ‘autopilot’ error: inquiry
- Dozens of sailors were rescued from the HMNZS Manawanui in October after it struck a reef
- Vessel burst into flames and finally sank south of Samoa’s most populous island Upolu
WELLINGTON: A New Zealand navy vessel plowed into a reef near Samoa and sank because its crew mistakenly left it on “autopilot,” a military inquiry found on Friday.
Dozens of sailors were rescued from the HMNZS Manawanui in October after it struck a reef, burst into flames and finally sank south of Samoa’s most populous island Upolu.
One of just nine commissioned ships in New Zealand’s small naval fleet, the Manawanui had been dispatched to map the ocean floor.
A military court of inquiry on Friday found the survey vessel had been scuttled because its “autopilot was not disengaged when it should have been.”
“Remaining in autopilot resulted in the ship maintaining a course toward land, until grounding and eventually stranding.”
Crewmembers noticed the ship had veered off course and tried to change direction, believing they had lost control due to a “thruster control failure.”
But they forgot to check if the autopilot had been disengaged first, the tribunal found.
Rather than steering away from danger, the ship “started to accelerate toward the reef.”
Defense Minister Judith Collins said the debacle had “really knocked Navy for six.”
“It was a terrible day. The navy and the defense force are not shying away from this.
“It was extremely disappointing. But that’s what has happened.”
The shipwreck settled on a stable section of reef some 30 meters below the surface.
It was carrying 950 tonnes of diesel when it sank, stirring fears of an oil slick that could kill wildlife and taint crucial food sources.
New Zealand’s navy has said previously that the main fuel tanks appeared to be intact.
Salvage crews were working to retrieve the fuel without major leaks.
No one died in the incident, although a small number of sailors suffered minor injuries.
Protesters clash with police in Georgia over government’s EU application delay
- Government suspends EU accession talks until 2028
- Georgian Dream has deepened ties with Russia amid EU tensions
TBILISI: Police clashed with protesters in the Georgian capital Tbilisi early on Friday, after the country’s ruling party said the government would suspend talks on European Union accession and refuse budgetary grants until 2028.
The country’s interior ministry said three police officers were injured.
Police ordered protesters to disperse, fired water cannon and deployed pepper spray and tear gas as masked young people tried to smash their way into the parliament. Some protesters tossed fireworks at police while shouting “Russians” and “Slaves!“
Georgia’s relations with the EU have deteriorated sharply in recent months as Brussels has alleged that the government had resorted to authoritarian measures and adopted pro-Russian stands.
Thousands of pro-EU protesters had blocked streets in the capital before the altercations began. The country’s figurehead president accused the government of declaring “war” on its own people and confronted riot police, asking whether they served Georgia or Russia.
The Georgian Dream governing bloc accused the EU of “a cascade of insults,” saying in a statement it was using the prospect of accession talks to “blackmail” the country, and to “organize a revolution in the country.”
As a result, it said: “We have decided not to put the issue of opening negotiations with the European Union on the agenda until the end of 2028. Also, we refuse any budgetary grant from the European Union until the end of 2028.”
The South Caucasus country of 3.7 million has the aim of EU accession written into its constitution and has long been among the most pro-Western of the Soviet Union’s successor states.
With months of downturn in relations between Tbilisi and Brussels, the EU had already said that Georgia’s application for membership was frozen.
Georgian Dream says it is not pro-Russian, and that it is committed to democracy and integration with the West.
It says it still wants to join the EU eventually, but has repeatedly engaged in diplomatic feuds with Brussels in recent years, whilst deepening ties with neighboring Russia.
There was no immediate formal comment from the EU on Georgian Dream’s statement. But an EU official said the impact of Thursday’s move was huge, adding the government was doing what the EU had feared and had hoped it would not.
Opinion polls show that around 80 percent of Georgians support EU membership, and the bloc’s flag flies alongside the national flag outside virtually all government buildings in the country.
The pro-Western opposition reacted to Georgian Dream’s announcement with fury as protesters massed. Local media reported that protests that erupted in provincial cities.
’WAR’ AGAINST PEOPLE
Giorgi Vashadze, a prominent opposition leader, wrote on Facebook: “the self-proclaimed, illegitimate government has already legally signed the betrayal of Georgia and the Georgian people.”
President Salome Zourabichvili, a pro-EU critic of Georgian Dream whose powers are mostly ceremonial, said the ruling party had “declared not peace, but war against its own people, its past and future.”
Zourabichvili’s term ends in December, and Georgian Dream has nominated a former lawmaker with hard-line anti-Western views to replace her.
The opposition says that an October election, in which official results gave the Georgian Dream bloc almost 54 percent of the vote, was fraudulent and have refused to take their seats. Western countries demand a probe into irregularities.
Both Georgian Dream and the country’s election commission say the election was free and fair.
Earlier on Thursday, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze told journalists that EU membership might harm Georgia’s economy, as it would require Tbilisi to cancel visa-free agreements and trade deals with other countries.
The EU gave Georgia candidate status in December 2023, but has said that a raft of laws passed since by Georgian Dream, including curbs on “foreign agents” and LGBT rights, are authoritarian, Russian-inspired, and obstacles to EU membership.
Foreign and domestic critics of Georgian Dream say the party, which is seen as dominated by its billionaire founder, ex-prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, is steering Georgia back toward Moscow, from which it gained independence in 1991.
Russia and Georgia have had no formal diplomatic relations since Moscow won a brief 2008 war, but have had a limited rapprochement recently.
Opinion polls show most Georgians dislike Russia, which continues to back two breakaway Georgian regions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking during a visit to Kazakhstan, praised the “courage and character” he said Georgian authorities had shown in passing the law on foreign agents, which domestic critics have likened to Russian legislation. (Reporting by Felix Light Additional reporting by Lili Bayer in Brussels Editing by Mark Trevelyan, Andrew Osborn, William Maclean, Frances Kerry and Ron Popeski)
Russian air defenses destroy, down 30 Ukrainian drones in Rostov region
Russian air defenses destroyed or downed 30 Ukrainian drones in southern Rostov region early on Friday, Regional Governor Yuri Slyusar said.
Slyusar, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said some private homes in two villages had sustained some damage, but there were no casualties.
For the first time, Macron calls 1944 killings of West African troops by French army as massacre
- Up to 400 West African soldiers who fought for the French Army in the Battle of France in 1940 were massacred on Dec. 1, 1944 by French soldiers over a dispute on unpaid wages
- Macron recognized the criminal act in a letter to Senegal's President Faye, at a time when France’s influence is declining in the region, with Paris losing its sway in the former French colonies in West Africa
DAKAR, Senegal: French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday for the first time recognized the killing of West African soldiers by the French Army in 1944 as a massacre in a letter addressed to the Senegalese authorities.
Macron’s move, on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the World War II killings in Thiaroye — a fishing village on the outskirts of the Senegalese capital of Dakar — comes as France’s influence is declining in the region, with Paris losing its sway in the former French colonies in West Africa.
Between 35 and 400 West African soldiers who fought for the French Army in the Battle of France in 1940 were killed on Dec. 1, 1944 by French soldiers after what the French described as a mutiny over unpaid wages.
The West Africans were members of the unit called Tirailleurs Senegalais, a corps of colonial infantry in the French Army. According to historians, there were disputes over unpaid wages in the days before the massacre but on that Dec. 1, French troops rounded up the West African soldiers, mostly unarmed, and shot and killed them.
Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye said he received the letter, which was seen by The Associated Pres.
Speaking to reporters late on Thursday, Faye said Macron’s step should “open the door” so that the “whole truth about this painful event of Thiaroye” can finally come out.
“We have long sought closure on this story and we believe that, this time, France’s commitment will be full, frank and collaborative,” he added.
“France must recognize that on that day, the confrontation between soldiers and riflemen who demanded their full legitimate wages be paid, triggered a chain of events that resulted in a massacre,” read Macron’s letter.
“It is also important to establish, as far as possible, the causes and facts that led to this tragedy,” Macron added. “I have asked my services to inform me of the progress of the work of the Committee for the Restoration of the Facts, which your government has decided to set up, under the direction of Professor Mamadou Diouf, whose eminence and qualities are recognized by all.”
The letter comes weeks after the Senegalese legislative elections, in which the ruling party PASTEF secured a definite majority. The win granted newly elected President Faye a clear mandate to carry out ambitious reforms promised during the campaign, which include more economic independence from foreign companies, including French ones, which are heavily invested in the country.
France still has around 350 troops in its former colony, mainly in a supportive role. Asked about the presence of French forces, Faye alluded that it would not be something the Senegalese would want.
“Historically, France enslaved, colonized and stayed here,” he said. “Obviously, I think that when you reverse the roles a little, you will have a hard time conceiving that another army, China, Russia, Senegal, or any other country could have a military base in France.”
