Russia will face a "severe crisis" by the end of the year due to a split between political factions, Kremlin critic and former world chess champion Garry Kasparov said on Wednesday.
STRASBOURG: Russia will face a "severe crisis" by the end of the year due to a split between political factions, Kremlin critic and former world chess champion Garry Kasparov said on Wednesday.
"I think in the fall we can see fierce fighting between different Kremlin groups," due to the administration's inability to come up with a successor to President Vladimir Putin.
"The split is growing," he told reporters at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
Russian opposition rallies, which have attracted a few thousand people on to the streets in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, could mushroom to 100,000 marchers, he said.
"I would not try to predict the outcome of the political schism," he said, but "I have no doubt Russia will face a severe crisis by the end of the year".
A single candidate from a unified opposition would have "a good chance to receive support from certain elements within the regime," said the former world chess champion.
Kasparov, a leader of The Other Russia coalition, said he was "cautiously optimistic" about the outcome for the political battle, ahead of the presidential election next March.
He said he would not stand as a candidate, preferring the role of "moderator" of his "very broad and fragile" coalition.
He thanked European leaders, especially German Chancellor Angela Merkel and EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, for raising human rights concerns with Putin.
He said his group particularly appreciated criticism that was voiced in Russia, at an EU-Russia summit in Samara last week, and not from outside.
"Ordinary Russians were quite puzzled to see Putin surrounded by Western leaders, by the leaders of the free world, and at the same time hearing our complaints that Putin's regime had been violating the basic democratic rules".
The European leaders "pointed at massive violations of human rights and the rule of law in Russia," he said.
Kasparov and other top figures in The Other Russia were prevented from attending a demonstration in Samara when police confiscated their tickets at a Moscow airport for hours of extra checks.
Previous protests by The Other Russia in Moscow and Saint Petersburg have been violently dispersed by riot police.
Kasparov was to address the EU assembly's foreign affairs committee on Thursday.
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