President Nawrocki meets chess legend and Kremlin critic Kasparov, discussing Russian threat to Poland and Baltic states

Meeting at the Presidential Palace

President Karol Nawrocki welcomed Garri Kasparow at the Presidential Palace on 29 July 2026. The Polish head of state and the Russian pro-democracy activist talked about the growing danger from the Kremlin and the consequences of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The meeting took place while Prime Minister Donald Tusk was hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to Polish media.

Kasparow, a former chess world champion, has been one of the most recognizable figures of the Russian opposition. The president's chancellery described him as someone who "has consistently opposed Vladimir Putin's regime for years, for which he was forced to leave Russia."

Kasparow's warnings

For more than a decade, Kasparow has been alerting Western leaders to the Kremlin's imperial ambitions. The chancellery noted that he "has repeatedly underlined the threat of Russian aggression to Poland and the Baltic states." After the launch of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he pointed many times to Poland as a pillar of stability and the key to security across Central and Eastern Europe.

After the meeting, Kasparow published his own account to social media.

It is an honor and pleasure to meet today in Warsaw with the President of Poland, Karol Nawrocki. We do not agree on everything, but we see a common enemy! Democracy is always accompanied by friction, however, having experience from the other side, Poles and Poland will always be friends of freedom.

Who is Garri Kasparow

Born in Baku in 1963 as Garik Kimovich Weinstein, Kasparow won the world chess title from 1985 to 1993 and is often remembered for his match against the computer Deep Blue. On 10 February 1996 he lost a single game to the machine, the first regulative defeat of a reigning world champion by a computer in a classical tournament game; he still won the six-game encounter.

After retiring from professional chess in 2005, Kasparow became a leading voice of the democratic opposition. He tried to run for the Russian presidency in 2008 but withdrew months before the vote. Over the years he co-founded the "Other Russia" movement and organized anti-Kremlin protests.

Mounting repression

Russian authorities have treated Kasparow as a threat. In March 2024 he was added to the official list of "terrorists and extremists," and a month later a Russian court reportedly issued an arrest warrant against him. Earlier he had been branded a "foreign agent." The move followed years of intensifying pressure on exiled critics of the regime.

The meeting in Warsaw underscored the growing role of Poland as a destination for Russian dissidents and a platform for discussions about Eastern Europe's security architecture. Kasparow's visit, according to the Polish presidency, served to reinforce the message that Poland remains indispensable to the defense of the continent's eastern flank.