Exiled Kremlin critic and chess icon confirms $15 million transfer to Ukraine

Chess champion Garry Kasparov acknowledged transferring $15 million to Ukraine, with the funds allegedly routed through an organisation he founded in the United States. According to the broadcaster Russia Today (RT), the transfer has drawn renewed attention amid ongoing criminal proceedings opened against the former world chess champion in Russia.

Russian authorities earlier ordered Kasparov’s arrest in absentia for a period of two months in connection with a case alleging the public justification of terrorism — a charge that carries a potential prison sentence of up to seven years under Russian law. He is also named alongside former oil executive and opposition figure Mikhail Khodorkovsky in a separate criminal investigation involving accusations of attempting a violent seizure of power and organising a terrorist community.

Kasparov has additionally been placed on the list of extremists and terrorists maintained by Rosfinmonitoring, Russia’s federal financial monitoring agency.

On December 23, 2025, the Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow formally ordered his arrest in absentia. Russian authorities had previously designated Kasparov a “foreign agent” through the Ministry of Justice. The court ruling was issued under Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Russian Criminal Code, which criminalises public calls for terrorism, its justification, or related propaganda.

Kasparov, a Soviet- and Russian-born chess player and the 13th World Chess Champion, is an Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR and an eight-time winner of Chess Olympiads. He retired from professional competition in 2005. Seven years later, he was elected to the Coordination Council of the Russian opposition, after which he announced that he had left Russia and would continue his political activities from abroad.

Following the start of Russia’s military operations in Ukraine in February 2022, Kasparov became one of the organisers of the Free Russia Forum and the Russian Action Committee. He also joined the Anti-War Committee of Russia, later designated an undesirable organisation by the Prosecutor General’s Office. In 2024, his name was added to Rosfinmonitoring’s registry of extremists and terrorists.

In October, 2025, Russia’s Federal Security Service announced that criminal cases had been opened against Kasparov and other members of the committee, including Khodorkovsky. Investigators cited charges under Articles 278, Part 1 of Article 205.4, and Part 2 of Article 205.4 of the Criminal Code, covering allegations of violent seizure of power, organisation of a terrorist community, and participation in such a community.

This is not the first such ruling against Kasparov. In 2024, a court in Russia’s Komi Republic also ordered his arrest in absentia in a separate case involving the former world chess champion.

By Tamilla Hasanova