Ex-world chess No.1 Kasparov added to Russian ‘terrorists and extremists’ list

72nd Cannes Film Festival - Photocall for the manga "Blitz" - Cannes, France, May 18, 2019. Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov poses. (Reuters photo)
72nd Cannes Film Festival – Photocall for the manga “Blitz” – Cannes, France, May 18, 2019. Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov poses. (Reuters photo)

LONDON (Reuters) – Russia’s financial monitoring agency, Rosfinmonitoring, has added former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, a prominent critic of the Kremlin, to its list of “terrorists and extremists”, the RIA state news agency reported on Wednesday.

The listing put limits on individuals’ bank transactions and forces them to seek approval every time they want to use their accounts.

Kasparov, 60, fled Russia in 2014 for fear of persecution. His media office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Russian justice ministry added Kasparov and former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky to its list of “foreign agents” in 2022, subjecting them to burdensome bureaucracy including financial reporting.

Garry Kasparov during a game of chess