Garry Kasparov has revealed that US and Lithuanian security services warned him his life was in danger.
The chess legend, 63, disclosed the alert in a Substack post on Wednesday, confirming he was among Kremlin opponents living outside Russia who had been contacted following a suspected assassination plot. Kasparov, who resides in New York, wrote that he and fellow opposition activist Ivan Tyutrin were not explicitly named as targets. “We were, however, warned by security services in Lithuania and the US that our lives were in danger and that we should take precautions,” he wrote.
Kasparov’s defiant response to the warning made clear he has no intention of retreating. “But I will not stop and I will not hide,” he continued in the same post. “I will continue to do everything I can to rally the free world against Putin’s murderous dictatorship.” The former champion’s stance carries personal risk: Russia has already placed him on its official registers of “foreign agents” and “terrorists and extremists.”
The warning to Kasparov follows US charges filed last month against five people accused of involvement in alleged Russian intelligence plots to kill two opposition figures. Federal authorities alleged the scheme involved paying recruits to conduct surveillance on targets, with one intended victim in the United States and another in Lithuania. Unconfirmed media reports have identified the possible targets as Kasparov in New York, Tyutrin in Lithuania, and Ilya Ponomaryov, a dissident based in Ukraine who travels regularly to the US.
Tyutrin, the Lithuania-based activist, was similarly informed by security services that he faced potential danger, according to Kasparov’s account. Neither man was told directly that they were the explicit targets of any operation, only that the threat level warranted immediate precautions.
The Kremlin has brushed off the US allegations. Last month, Russian officials said they saw no reason to comment in the absence of what they termed credible evidence and facts. Moscow has consistently denied carrying out assassination plots on foreign soil, including within the United States, despite repeated accusations from Western governments and intelligence agencies.
Kasparov’s prominence as both a chess grandmaster and vocal Putin critic has made him a longstanding target of the Russian state. He held the world chess championship title from 1985 until 2000 and emerged as one of the most visible opposition figures after leaving Russia. His relocation to New York did not diminish his public attacks on the Kremlin, delivered through speeches, writings, and media appearances.
The timing of the warning arrives amid heightened tensions between Washington and Moscow over alleged Russian covert operations targeting dissidents abroad. US prosecutors have increasingly publicized such cases, treating them as both criminal matters and tools of diplomatic pressure.
Ponomaryov, the third figure linked to the reported targets, maintains a different pattern of movement than Kasparov or Tyutrin. His regular travel to the United States from his base in Ukraine potentially exposed him to the same surveillance network that US authorities dismantled last month.
The five individuals charged in the US case allegedly functioned as intermediaries and recruiters for Russian intelligence services, funneling payments to operatives tasked with tracking opposition figures. The surveillance phase typically precedes actual assassination attempts in such operations, according to counterintelligence specialists who have examined similar Russian programs.
Russia’s denial of foreign assassination plots conflicts with multiple confirmed cases in recent years, including the 2018 Novichok poisoning of Sergei Skripal in Britain and the 2019 murder of Chechen rebel Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Berlin. German courts directly implicated the Russian state in the latter killing.
Kasparov’s Substack post represents his first public confirmation of direct contact with US security services regarding the threat. The platform has become a frequent outlet for his political commentary since its launch.