Former
world chess champion turned Kremlin critic Garry Kasparov has asked Latvian
politicians to grant him citizenship to help him pursue his political
activities in Russia.
In a letter seen by
Reuters, Kasparov, 50, said Latvian citizenship would give him the security to
work “in Russia and in other countries across the world where civil rights are
denied and democratic norms are trampled on”.
Kasparov, a veteran
opposition leader in Russia and a well-known critic of President Vladimir
Putin, has in recent years spent much of his time abroad. He said the mother of
his son, Vadim, was a Latvian citizen and he had won an important chess victory
in the former Soviet state when he was 14-years-old.
“Every Latvian has
the right to express his opinion freely, participate in the political process
and not be afraid of unlawful persecution,” Kasparov wrote of the Baltic state.
In the letter,
Kasparov said he wanted to retain his Russian citizenship as well.
His appeal comes
amid tension between the Baltic states and Moscow after Russia last month
suspended imports of dairy products from Lithuania, the current holder of the
rotating EU presidency, while Latvia is hosting a major NATO military exercise
together with Poland. Russia cited quality concerns for its suspension of
Lithuanian dairy imports.
Kasparov's letter,
written in Latvian, was addressed to all parties and independent members of
parliament except for the Harmony Center party, said Andrejs Klementjevs, a
member of parliament for the party.
The Harmony Center
party signed a cooperation agreement in 2009 with the United Russia party
founded by Putin.
This a very
political issue, because formally there is no real merit in terms of having
done something for the good of Latvia,” said Dzintars Zakis, leader in
parliament for Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis' Unity Party.
“I would be very
careful with it,” he added.
Edmunds Demiters of
the Reform Party, the third biggest party in the Latvian parliament, also said
it remained unclear what exceptional services Kasparov had rendered Latvia to make
him eligible for citizenship.
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