Kasparov Says US and Lithuanian Security Services Warned Him of Threat to His Life

Exiled Russian opposition figure Garry Kasparov has disclosed that American and Lithuanian security services warned him that his life was in danger, making him one of two dissidents advised to take protective precautions. The former world chess champion, who has lived in the United States since fleeing Russia in 2013, said he had acted on the warnings, though he noted he was never explicitly told that he personally was considered a target of any specific plot.

The revelation follows the unsealing earlier this month of a US Justice Department indictment charging five individuals who allegedly work for the Kremlin with conspiring to carry out attacks and assassinations in multiple countries, including the United States. According to the department, the alleged operations concentrated on Russian dissidents and defectors living abroad, individuals the Kremlin regards as enemies of the state.

Writing on his Substack, Kasparov said he and Ivan Tyutrin, co-founder of the Free Russia Forum, had both received warnings about their safety, although neither was told in direct terms that they were regarded as targets. The Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported that it had obtained information indicating Kasparov and another Russian opposition figure, Ilya Ponomarev, had been alerted to the alleged plot over the summer by US authorities. Citing sources close to Kasparov, the paper said he had been placed under enhanced protection for the first time since moving to the United States.

Kasparov struck a defiant tone in his public comments, writing that he would neither stop his political activity nor go into hiding, even if he believed concealment were possible. He added that he and his family would not be truly safe as long as Russian President Vladimir Putin remained in power, a predicament he said was shared by millions of people. The statement reflects the position of a man who has spent two decades as one of the Kremlin's most prominent and outspoken critics from abroad.

Kasparov's political trajectory is unusual even among Russian emigres. He retired from competitive chess in 2005, at the height of a career that made him a global celebrity, in order to found opposition movements in Russia that openly challenged Putin's rule. He left the country in 2013 and has not returned. In the years since, Russian authorities have designated him a foreign agent, following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and added him to a list of terrorists and extremists in 2024. Kasparov rejects both categorisations, which he regards as politically motivated punishment for his criticism.

The second reported target, Ilya Ponomarev, occupies a unique place in modern Russian political history. He was the only member of the Russian parliament to vote against the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, a decision that effectively ended his career in Russia and sent him into exile in Ukraine. When approached by the Moscow Times, Ponomarev declined to confirm or deny whether he had been tipped off about the alleged assassination plot, but he described the allegations as representing a new level of escalation by Russia. His comment captures a widely held view among opposition figures that the threat environment has grown significantly more dangerous in recent years.

According to the US Justice Department, a network of individuals working for Russian intelligence services has been operating since at least 2024. The department described the group, referred to as the RIS Network, as having conspired and conducted attacks and murders targeting Russian dissidents and defectors around the world. The indictment alleges that five members of the network operated as part of a global assassination apparatus extending into the United States, where they allegedly attempted to recruit American citizens and foreign nationals to carry out killings at the Kremlin's behest.

John A Eisenberg, the assistant attorney general for national security, characterised the alleged operation in stark terms, saying the accused had functioned within a worldwide assassination network that reached American soil. The five individuals named as organisers of the plots are Yuri Khrameev, Kirill Khrameev, Oemis Romagoza Durruthy, Yaidel Delgado Suarez and Angel Eduardo Castro. All five remain at large, according to the Justice Department, raising questions about the practical reach of US law enforcement in cases involving suspected foreign intelligence operatives.

The Kremlin has responded cautiously to the unsealing of the indictment. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he would not comment on the charges until he had heard or seen what he described as any credible evidence or tangible facts. The response is consistent with Moscow's longstanding practice of dismissing Western legal actions against alleged Russian operatives as politically motivated and unsubstantiated, while rarely providing detailed rebuttals.

The case adds to a growing body of incidents in which Russian dissidents and defectors abroad have reported being targeted, a pattern that Western security services have increasingly treated as a systemic campaign rather than isolated events. For figures such as Kasparov and Ponomarev, the warnings underscore the personal risks that accompany opposition to the Kremlin from outside Russia. The enhanced protection afforded to Kasparov, if confirmed, would represent a significant escalation in the precautions deemed necessary for his safety.

For the broader Russian opposition in exile, the indictment and the reported warnings carry a dual significance. On one hand, they suggest that US authorities are taking the threat seriously and are willing to pursue legal action against alleged operatives. On the other, they highlight the difficulty of protecting individuals scattered across multiple countries, often with limited resources and varying levels of host-nation support. The fact that the alleged network operated for at least a year before charges were brought points to the challenges of detecting and disrupting such activities in advance.

Kasparov's insistence that he will not hide also raises the question of how exile communities balance visibility with security. Remaining publicly active keeps opposition voices relevant and sustains international attention on Russian affairs, but it also makes individuals easier to locate and target. His statement that safety is impossible while Putin remains in power frames the dilemma as a structural one, rooted in the political situation in Russia rather than in any individual precaution that might be taken abroad.

The indictment's focus on recruitment of US citizens and foreigners adds another dimension. If accurate, it suggests efforts to build local capacity for operations rather than relying solely on Russian nationals, a method that would complicate detection and attribution for Western intelligence agencies. Such tactics, if confirmed, would represent a notable shift in tradecraft and would explain the seriousness with which US authorities appear to be treating the alleged network.

As the legal case proceeds, the five named suspects remain outside US custody, and it is unclear whether any will ever face trial. For Kasparov, Ponomarev and others in their position, the practical consequence of the indictment may be less about courtroom outcomes than about the signal it sends to host governments about the persistence of the threat. In the meantime, those who have received warnings must weigh the value of their public role against the risks that come with it, a calculation that has become an unavoidable feature of Russian opposition life in exile.