Kasparov to Obama: Stop Pretending You’re Dealing with Another Democratic Leader

TODD: "Do you fear for your life?"

KASPAROV: "Look, not here in New York and I left Moscow, Russia, two years ago and many of our colleagues did the same. After Boris' death, I mean, no one, no one feels safe in Moscow if you have anything to say against Vladimir Putin."

TODD: "What do you want the Obama administration to do? How do you confront something like this? You have been critical of his policies and dealing with Putin in the past, but how should the administration react to this?"

KASPAROV: "Stop pretending that you are dealing with another democratic elected leader. Stop making deals and stop trying to bring Putin to negotiating table because his agenda is totally opposite of the agenda of the United States or Europe. Putin wants to destroy Ukrainian statehood. Putin wants crisis because crisis, wars, the lack of international security- those are the elements that are absolutely vital for his survival in Russia. One of the first things to be done is to make sure that Ukraine can resist Putin's aggression. So Ukraine needs weapons and that's really the best thing to be done to remember Boris Nemtsov."