Russian President Vladimir Putin is “blatantly bluffing,” exploiting “weakness that has developed in the West over the past 25 years,” and won’t back down until Western leaders “demonstrate political will,” said former chess champion Garry Kasparov. The chess legend added that the Russian leader is really playing poker, not chess.
“In poker, unlike chess, the strength of your position is important, but not everything,” said Kasparov in an interview with Radio Free Europe. “You can compensate for [a weak hand in poker] by bluffing your opponent.”
Kasparov said Putin “needs chaos,” and “needs a situation in which existing institutions [like NATO] will be discredited,” said the former Soviet chess grandmaster. “In fact, any operation in [Putin’s] hybrid war — even with minimum success, in any NATO country — will mean that NATO is weak, and that Putin has scored another victory.”
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“Putin is masterful at exploiting this weakness that has developed in the West over the past 25 years,” he said. “The West, through its leaders and those who vote for them, are not ready for serious confrontation. As a result, Putin is just blatantly bluffing.”
The U.S. and Europe imposed heavy sanctions against Russia after it invaded the Crimea, sent Russian-backed troops into the Ukraine, and repeatedly violated the Minsk ceasefire agreement.
Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko warned two weeks ago his country faces a “full-scale invasion” from Russia after escalating violence in eastern Ukraine killed at least 24 people. Over 6,000 people have died in the fighting since the conflict began last year.
While the Russian ruble has plunged in value, Putin has not withdrawn the Russian-backed troops in the Ukraine. Kasparov offers a hint as to why: Putin is “a fighter” who is not after territory, but interested in his own political survival.
If Russia does not return to where it was before it annexed the Crimea in 2014, “there should be no talk of lifting sanctions, or of warmer relations,” he said.
The former world chess champion suggested that the Ukraine should be provided with antitank missiles and other defensive weapons because “that will raise the stakes for Putin and his aggression.” In a 2014 interview with Yahoo, Kasparov said he was appalled the U.S. had sent arms to the Syrian rebels but had refused a similar request from the Ukraine.
Kasparov, reputedly the greatest chess player that ever lived, lives in self-imposed exile in the United States. He made these remarks at a recent Global Forum in an interview with Radio Free Europe’s Belarus.
