Kremlin critic Garry Kasparov urges Canada to hit Russia with sanctions
If anyone knows how to look several moves ahead, it's Garry Kasparov.
Kasparov is a former world chess champion. He's also a critic of the Kremlin. He's in Ottawa today, to try to convince the government that passing a law imposing new sanctions on Russia is a sound strategic move.
So far, the Liberals aren't convinced. Before they were elected, they promised to follow Washington's example and pass a so-called Magnitsky Law — but now, they don't seem so keen.
Kasparov tells As it Happens host Carol Off passing the Magnitsky law won't hurt Canada's interests. In fact, he says Canada will only strengthen Russian President Vladimir Putin's power base if Canada tries to "play softball with him."
Carol Off: Mr. Kasparov, why do you think that it's in Canada's interest to impose new sanctions on Russia?
"Any sign of weakness demonstrated by Canada or the United States, European Union, NATO, will embolden Putin."- Garry Kasparov
Garry Kasparov: It's not just in Canada's interest, it's in the interests of the free world, because any sign of weakness demonstrated by Canada or the United States, European Union, NATO, will embolden Putin to make new steps. Judging from Putin's latest moves, we could see that he made aggressive foreign policy a staple of his domestic propaganda. And that's why he needs to feed [the] Russian public that has been suffering, with some big news from Putin's foreign policy victories. And any relief in sanctions will be trumpeted by Putin's propaganda as another big victory for Putin, and will embolden him to move further.
CO: I want to ask about this particular law — this is based on this whistleblower, Sergei Magnitsky, who was thrown into prison after he exposed fraud in Russia. And he died quite tragically in prison. So who does the Magnitsky Law actually target?
GK: Let's make sure [listeners] know that he was killed in prison. And he exposed a massive corruption case — we're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars — and the Russian justice system actually let people who were accused by Magnitsky to prosecute him and to put him in jail. The Magnitsky Law originally was designed to target people who were involved in this case, who killed Magnitsky, and who benefited from this corruption scheme by stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from [the] Russian budget, and harbouring them out of Russia. But eventually it was expanded to cover other violations of human rights and other similar cases in Russia. And that's why Putin's regime was so aggressive trying to repeal it, since Magnitsky's Law potentially could destroy Putin's grip on power among Russian elite.
CO: This law does not target Mr. Putin. And it does go after the other kleptocrats that you have mentioned, but it's that against him, so why should he care?
"[H]e doesn't care about Canada or any other country trying to play softball with him. [I]f you show no strength in responding to his brazen actions, he will continue his aggressive policies.- Garry Kasparov on Vladimir Putin
GK: His power in Russia is based not on democratic institutions, but on his ability to guarantee all people who are loyal to him — the Russian elite, Russian bureaucracy, Russian security forces — that no matter what they do in Russia, they are always protected, they are immune to Russian law. And moreover, they will be able to place the money that they allocated through these operations, elsewhere in the world and still be protected because Putin can influence foreign leaders not to take actions against them. The moment you weaken Putin's ability to influence this event, and to convince Russian bureaucracy and Russian elite that he's all powerful — both inside and out of Russia — that might lead to his demise.
CO: So far we're seeing that the Liberal government is resisting this idea; it does exist in the United States, it's before Congress — it has a great deal of clout and these kinds of sanctions can actually be quite intimidating for Moscow. The argument is that Canada does better with soft power — that that's the best way for Canada to try and influence the world stage and Mr. Putin. Why is that not a valid approach for Canada to take?
GK: Because it never worked and it will never work. When you're dealing with a dictator who made these aggressive foreign policies for the core of his political corral at home, he doesn't care about Canada or any other country trying to play softball with him. He demonstrated over the last year that if you show no strength in responding to his brazen actions, he will continue his aggressive policies.
"[J]udging the popularity of a dictator from the polls conducted in the country — it's at least naive."-Garry Kasparov
CO: You know that President Vladimir Putin still has a great deal of support in Russia. He is considered still to be quite popular for many reasons. So why do you think the sanctions could actually shake his authority and power in Russia?
GK: Look, I don't think you should talk to an informed Russian about Putin's popularity. Vladimir Putin is the man staying in power for 17 years, and no intention of leaving power. So he'll stay in the Kremlin until the very end. And judging the popularity of a dictator from the polls conducted in the country, it's at least naive. Because people accept it because they are afraid. Very often they are simply afraid to express their views. And it's hard to criticize them, because most of them were born and raised in the Soviet Union. They know what is KGB — not from books or newspaper articles, but from real life. And if Putin's so popular, why is he not running free and fair elections? Why is he jailing his critics and killing opposition leaders? So I don't think that we can seriously discuss the argument of a popular dictator, who destroyed the opposition, jailed his critics, eliminated free media, and killed many opposition leaders and activists. And also started wars with neighbouring countries.
For more on this story, listen to our full interview with Garry Kasparov.