New Delhi: Former World Chess Champion and Russian expatriate Garry Kasparov has joined the chorus of condemnation against Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, recommending measures in a “told-you-so” tweet to “bankrupt Putin’s war machine”.
Garry Kasparov listed steps to stop the war and asked support for the Ukraine militarily with everything but boots on the ground — including weapons, intel and cyber security.
Ok, after years of warnings were ignored and hearing "Garry, you were right!" all damn day today, I'll repeat what I said in 2014: Stop telling me I was right and listen to what I'm saying now. My recommendations follow: 1/5
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) February 24, 2022
“Ok, after years of warnings [being] ignored and hearing — Garry, you were right! — All damn day today, I’ll repeat what I said in 2014: stop telling me I was right and listen to what I’m saying now,” he said in his tweet thread.
Now a politician and a vocal critic of Putin, the chess grandmaster said that Russia’s finances should be frozen and seized and the country should be kicked out of every international and financial institution.
He went on to suggest that all ambassadors should be recalled from Russia and that there was no point in talking. “The new unified message is [to] stop or be isolated completely,” he tweeted.
Calling Putin a ‘dictator’, he suggested banning all elements of his global propaganda machine. “Turn them off, shut them down, send them home. Stop helping the dictator spread lies and hate,” he said.
In his list of recommendations, Kasparov said that Putin’s lackeys need to be exposed and acted against in the free world.
“If Schröder and his ilk continue to work for Putin, bring charges. Ask the owners and advertisers of networks platforming Putin propagandists like Carlson why they allow it,” he said, attacking the Russian President.
Kasparov’s recommendation to end the Ukraine-Russia conflict included replacing Russian oil and gas and pressurizing OPEC to increase production and reopen Keystone. “You can’t save the planet if you don’t save the people on it.”
“Acknowledge there will be costs, sacrifices. We waited [too] long, the price is high, but it will only get higher. It’s time to fight,” the chess great said.
Commenting on a tweet by Oliver Carroll, Moscow correspondent for The Independent, Garry Kasparov termed Putin a “snake the free world nestled to its bosom, treating [him] as an ally, an equal, while he spread his corruption”.
“Now he strikes again, proving that you cannot avoid battling evil, you can only delay it while the price goes up. Glory to Ukraine,” he added.
This is the snake the free world nestled to its bosom, treating Putin as an ally, an equal, while he spread his corruption. Now he strikes again, proving that you cannot avoid battling evil, you can only delay it while the price goes up. Glory to Ukraine. https://t.co/9RMcEuOkgr
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) February 24, 2022
Continuing his condemnation of Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine, grandmaster Garry Kasparov said, “Every dollar in trade with Russia since he invaded Ukraine in 2014, every Euro of corrupt deals with his cronies, helped Putin build the war machine he is using to slaughter civilians in Europe today.”