Georgia: Saakashvili Meets Kasparov

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on March 16 received Russian opposition figure and chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov, a vocal critic of Saakashvili's archenemy, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

During the meeting at his hilltop Tbilisi residence, Saakashvili described himself as a great fan of Kasparov and lavished praise on the former world chess champion's "heroic" efforts to place checks on the authority of the Putin-dominated Russian government, the Interfax news agency reported.

Kasparov, the leader of the United Civil Front, a democratic reform movement, said that there can be no peace between Georgia and Russia as long as Putin remains in charge in the Kremlin. "Many Russians oppose Putin's aggressive policies toward Georgia," Kasparov was quoted by the GHN news agency as saying.

Relations between Moscow and Tbilisi have remained tense in the wake of their 2008 war. Lingering hostility has prompted the leaders of both countries to seek PR advantages.

Putin kicked off a PR battle in late 2009 when he met ex-Georgian prime minister-turned-government critic Zurab Noghaideli. More recently, former Georgian parliament speaker Nino Burjanadze, also a leading Saakashvili antagonist, traveled to Moscow to sit down with the Russian prime minister. The visits raised eyebrows in Tbilisi and several political parties were quick to distance themselves from Noghaideli and Burjanadze.