Liberty in Russia

Kasparov fears Putin will seize last of liberties
By David R. Sands
October 11, 2007

Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, now a long-shot candidate for president of Russia, said yesterday that President Vladimir Putin’s bid to hold on to power after he leaves office in March is just the latest sign of the collapse of democracy and civil liberties in Russia today.

Mr. Kasparov emerged as the unlikely face of Russian opposition to the Kremlin. He heads a small but vocal coalition known as Other Russia, which condemns what it recognizes as Russia’s slide into authoritarian rule since Mr. Putin took office eight years ago.

“We are not fighting to win elections. We’re fighting to have elections,” Mr. Kasparov told a Capitol Hill briefing yesterday.

In Moscow, Russian electoral officials barred a vocal opposition alliance from participating in December parliamentary elections, a spokeswoman for the group said yesterday.

As expected, the Central Election Commission declined to register a candidate list submitted by Other Russia, spokeswoman Lyudmila Mamina said.

In a letter to the group, election commission chief Vladimir Churov said Other Russia is barred because it was not registered as a political party, Ms. Mamina said. Only registered parties can take part in the Dec. 2 vote.

Mr. Putin, who must step down as president when his second term ends in March, stunned Russian and international analysts by appointing Viktor Zubkov, an aging, little-known financial regulator, as prime minister last month and then agreeing to lead the pro-Kremlin United Russia party in December’s parliamentary elections.

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