Moscow:
Former chess champion and anti-Kremlin activist Garry Kasparov has said he is staying out of Russia over fears he could be put on trial, becoming the latest Russian intellectual to leave his home country amid the crackdown on the opposition.
Kasparov said in Switzerland he would not be returning to Moscow for the moment over fears he could be investigated for his role in protests against President Vladimir Putin in the last months.
His comments came after prominent liberal economist Sergei Guriyev stepped down from a number of posts and abruptly left for France last month over fears he could be arrested after being interrogated by investigators.
The departure of the economist raised fears of a new exodus of the intellectual elite from Putin's Russia similar to the brain drain endured by the Soviet Union which lost some of its brightest minds.
"I kept travelling back and forth until late February when it became clear that I might be part of this ongoing investigation of the activities of the political protesters," Kasparov said on Tuesday at a news conference in Geneva.
"Right now, I have serious doubts that if I return to Moscow I may not be able to travel back. So for the time being I refrain from returning to Russia," Kasparov added.
The chess legend has in recent years become an impassioned campaigner against Putin and took part in some of the mass opposition street protests against his rule.