Q&A With Kasparov

As previously noted, there are daily news items pertaining to Kasparov, but most are not very interesting - just talking about some rally or the ex world number one's latest run-in with the Russian police. This one, however, with Canada's CBC is passable.

The Other Russia movement you lead is diverse. It includes economic liberals, nationalists and Communists. Is that diversity a weakness in the long term?

Technically speaking, in the long term it might be a problem, but nobody is trying to create a political party here. This is a combination similar to what was created in Chile at the end of the 1980s, when all groups — Christian Democrats, Communists — got together to fight Pinochet in the referendum.

After winning the referendum they began promoting their own political and social agenda. Here in Russia we have a similar situation. We have one common ground based on our beliefs that we have to restore democratic processes in the country.

There is a program of national unity being worked out, and soon it will be published, and we agree on the sweeping political reforms of this package and even certain political and economic measure to cure this unbearable gap between rich and poor.