Chess legend Garry Kasparov says US and Lithuania warned him of Kremlin assassination plot against him and his ally

From the Newshound archive · first published 1 October 2026 · last updated 2 October 2026.

Garry Kasparov, 63, disclosed that security services in the United States and Lithuania had alerted him and fellow Free Russia Forum co-founder Ivan Tyutrin that they faced mortal danger and should take protective measures. The warning comes in the wake of a US Justice Department indictment earlier this month charging five alleged Russian intelligence operatives with plotting murders of dissidents across multiple countries, including inside the United States. Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported Kasparov was placed under enhanced protection for the first time since moving to the US, naming him and former Russian lawmaker Ilya Ponomarev as targets.

Kasparov said the news 'did not come as a surprise' but was 'nevertheless a shock', and vowed: 'I will not stop and I will not hide.'

Among the five indicted defendants is an alleged officer of Russia's FSB security service, whose organisation plotted to have a 'prominent Russian dissident' in the US murdered this summer.

Russia has classified Kasparov as both a 'foreign agent' and a 'terrorist and extremist' — labels he rejects — since fleeing his homeland in 2013.