Garry Kasparov: Putin Is In A Desperate Situation
- 10.06.2026, 17:35
Europe set about dismantling the outlying regions of the Russian Empire.
Russia is losing allies and failing to achieve the goals it set before invading Ukraine, but it remains the primary threat to its neighboring countries. This was stated by one of the leaders of the Russian opposition Garry Kasparov on the YouTube channel "Free Russia Forum".
The website Charter97.org quotes a fragment of the conversation:
“Europe has begun to seriously dismantle what are still the outlying regions of the Russian Empire; this is already a demonstration of its competence. There will be no peace in Europe as long as the Russian Empire exists with all its numerous metastases, including the base in Armenia, troops in Transnistria, and so on.
Europe is gradually beginning to act in this direction. In fact, it is important to understand that this realization has already come. The question is how soon this understanding will translate into actual policy. Europe has finally realized that the presence of this cancerous tumor, which is metastasizing, guarantees that the problems will only grow. By the way, Europe will soon have to address issues not in Armenia, but in Germany and France. The success in Hungary should not go to their heads, because there are French elections next year. If there is no consolidation around a new centrist candidate, Armenia’s problems will seem like a drop in the bucket.”
Nevertheless, according to the politician, the likelihood of a Russian attack on European countries remains very high. This could happen at the end of this year or the beginning of next year.
“Putin could cross the border into Lithuania, Latvia, or Estonia,” said Garry Kasparov. “The thing is, we still need to understand the motivation and, at the very least, the regional dynamics.
Putin is in a desperate situation. He has to take risks because the situation in Russia is deteriorating literally by the hour. Further escalation and an attempt to exploit NATO’s indecision and Europe’s unpreparedness for a tough military confrontation, in my view, make the likelihood of a crossing of the NATO border at the end of this year or the beginning of next year much higher than that of a Chinese operation against Taiwan.
Further setbacks, obvious failures in Ukraine, could push Putin toward the most radical actions. There are two options. Either use tactical nuclear weapons, which I consider impossible, or cross the NATO border. He has no other resources left.
A third option, so to speak, is mobilization. But, first, it’s not certain that this is a good idea; there are still formal elections to be held. Second, it’s not certain that this will yield results, and it will certainly cause social unrest.”