Garry Kasparov: Putin And Trump Did Not Come To Power By Accident

• 25.04.2025, 16:51

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One of the leaders of the Russian opposition Garry Kasparov gave an interview to the YouTube channel of the Free Russia Forum.

The politician touched upon the issue of Trump and Putin coming to power:

— Today, there is a lot of talk about where Donald Trump came from and what processes are behind this. But maybe it is time to honestly discuss how Putin's authoritarian regime turned into a totalitarian fascist dictatorship — which unleashed a criminal war, genocide of the Ukrainian people and spread the fascist infection throughout the world? Why has war become the main mechanism for maintaining power today? How did we get to this? Did we really have nothing to do with it?

Garry Kasparov believes that Europe has begun to wake up. Germany will play a key role in this process:

— The processes are ongoing. Another thing is that without Germany, of course, they are worthless. Germany's participation is necessary, and judging by Merz's statements, his position is quite radical. I already talked about this in the last program: it is a historical paradox that the most pro-American politician in modern Germany (and Merz has always stood out as a supporter of Atlanticism, closely cooperating with the United States against the background of other German politicians, including in his own party, who, on the contrary, looked towards Russia), it is he who will have to formalize the divorce today.

Merz understands that there is no other way out, and, again, his statements are very clear and tough. We do not fully know the structure of the coalition agreement, because his partner is the Social Democrats, and even within the CDU itself there are supporters of finding a compromise with Russia. I think that their votes will not play a decisive role, but whether Germany will be able, say, to fulfill Merz's program, which includes the transfer of Taurus missiles and Ukraine's transition to active actions to destroy Russian infrastructure, primarily the Crimean Bridge, I do not know. I would not rush to conclusions yet. But I think Germany is moving in this direction.

Europe today understands that it needs to prepare for war. No matter what Trump shouts, it’s all noise. The reality is that war has become a tool for Putin to retain power, and, accordingly, war will continue in some form. Therefore, Europe must prepare for this. And Germany, of course, must play a key role.

According to Garry Kasparov, there are clear signs that Europe is seriously increasing its military efforts. The Russian opposition leader paid special attention to the 1 trillion euro program announced for the rearmament of Europe. According to him, these are already “clear indicators that Europe is preparing.”

— The speed of preparation and the political forms of formalizing this concept are still open. The most important question, for example, is obviously connected with the presence of nuclear weapons in the new union. The British and the French have them. England, by the way, is not a member of the European Union, but today it is clear that it is closer to Europe than to America.

The question is whether these nuclear forces will be used solely for deterrence, or Germany, in cooperation with Poland and Eastern European countries, will go down the path of creating new nuclear forces. I do not think that this is a big technological problem for Germany, but this is also a very serious decision that must be made.

In the end, Garry Kasparov addressed the Russian oppositionists who oppose military support for Ukraine:

— We must fight the regime and help Ukraine, fight Putin's propaganda. This is a war in which we are participating. We all make mistakes, but morally there is nothing to reproach me for. I have always been consistent, unlike our opponents.

Today it is not too late to take a principled position — only the defeat of Russia in this war will give Russia a chance to escape from the civilizational impasse. A chance, there is no guarantee. Most likely, Russia will not remain within its current borders. But there are no other options.