He calls Putin a “dictator”
Chess thinker Kasparov hands out against IOC Bach
03/07/2022 11:28 am
In a past life, Garry Kasparov is world chess champion. In the last decade he has repeatedly stood out as a major critic of the Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin. After attacking Ukraine, he now calls it a dictator and lashes out at world sport officials.
Former Russian chess world champion Garry Kasparov has criticized the closeness of major sports organizations to dictators around the world. “I’m not a fan of Mr. Bach or any other official, be it the IOC or FIFA, because they all have direct or indirect connections with the Putins of this world,” said Kasparov in the “Sportschau” interview. But it is much easier to negotiate with dictators than to apply for grants in the Bundestag or the British Parliament, Kasparov said: “One dinner could be enough to get money from Putin.”
World sport pushed Putin even further on his path of aggression by awarding the Olympics and world championships. In view of the Russian attack on Ukraine, one must now ask oneself how to deal with sports associations that have intentionally or unintentionally “become tools of dictators”.
Since the Olympic Games in Germany in 1936, dictators around the world have seen sporting events as an opportunity to improve their image. “Putin went by the textbook and tweaked it because he had more money than any other dictator in the past,” said Kasparov, 58.
According to the chess world champion from 1985 to 2000, Putin has built up the largest network of lobbyists and agents in the history of the world, which is now “as good as ruined” because Putin “completely underestimated” the unified reaction of the West. “It is very important that something like this never happens again. Because Putin has shown us how to use these international events and sports organizations to promote his agenda. And it cannot be that such tragic events as in Ukraine are necessary are to wake up,” said Kasparov.