Fighting putin

London, April 5 (Reuters): Former chess champion Garry Kasparov, now a political Opposition leader, never touches the food and drink when he flies on Russian carrier Aeroflot.

Since training his sights on the Kremlin rather than an opponent’s king, the 43-year-old says personal safety is more of a concern, although he plays down the danger of being poisoned following the murder of dissident Alexander Litvinenko.

“I don’t consume any substances there (on Aeroflot),” Kasparov said in an interview in London, where he is promoting a new book How Life Imitates Chess. He said he has two bodyguards when in Moscow and four or five armed guards when he travels within Russia. He tries not to take international flights on Aeroflot when he can avoid it.

“Does it reduce the risk? No. If the state wants to go after me they will, but what else can I do? I live in peace with myself.”

Litvinenko was poisoned by a radioactive material and died in London in November.

Kasparov also speaks of oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, serving a prison term for fraud and tax evasion which, his supporters say, was politically motivated because he was seen as a threat to Putin. “For me it’s a moral duty,” Kasparov said.“I believe my country is in trouble. Why should I leave a country which I have been defending for 25 years as world champion?”

He believes political turmoil lies ahead in Russia as discontent over living standards. Kasparov has been trying to raise an Opposition movement in Russia to challenge what he believes is Putin’s vice-like grip on power.