Former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov (64) has left Russia – it is currently unknown what he will do after leaving the post. Only a week has passed since the opposition politician declared that he feared for his life.
Kasyanov was prime minister during Vladimir Putin’s first term – from 2000 to 2004.
Soon thereafter, he became a vocal critic of Putin – something he has remained ever since.
He is Kasyanov’s colleague in the Parnas party, Konstantin Merzlykin, who confirms RIA Novosti And on Thursday evening the party leader left Russia, not knowing when he would return.
“He is not in the territory of the Russian Federation now, but I do not know where he is or when he will return,” Merzlykin said.
kill a colleague
Kasyanov said a week ago Deutsche Welle who feared for his life:
– Now I am outside Russia, but, of course, I think about everything that I do.
Kasyanov witnessed the shooting death of fellow dissident Boris Nemtsov in 2015, telling Deutsche Welle:
“Everyone in Russia should fear for their lives, including me,” Kasyanov said, adding that he also feared for his family.
Unlike many of those who have been given high positions around Putin, Kasyanov does not come from the intelligence, the military, or the like. He is an economist and engineer.
In the 1990s, he served in the Yeltsin administration, and was among those allowed to continue when Putin took power at the turn of the millennium.
Earlier on Thursday, RIA Novosti reported that another opposition politician, Grigory Yavlinsky, had left the country indefinitely. But party leader Jabloko himself later announced via Telegram that he would be back. He’s currently on vacation in London – and had to travel via Dubai to get there as almost all skies in Europe are closed to Russian airlines.
Mikhail Kasyanov tried to run for president in 2008, when Putin’s chosen one, Dmitry Medvedev, was elected. But he did not get the necessary signatures approved to allow him to run. At that time, he was supported by, among others, chess legend Garry Kasparov.
– I lost my mind
Kasyanov was pivotal during the major protests against the regime in the years 2011-2013 – as a result of election fraud. Since 2015, he has been the leader of the PARNAS party, the People’s Freedom Party.
In 2016, it attracted a lot of attention when Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov made a covert threat to Kasyanov by posting a picture of the former prime minister with a gun aimed at his head. A few days later, Kasyanov was attacked in a Moscow restaurant – men threatening to kill him shouted.
Kasyanov has been highly critical of Putin since the February 24 invasion of Ukraine.
“My impression is that he has lost his mind,” Kasyanov told Denmark. Radio 4.
The aggression he is now launching goes beyond any normal framework or behavior.
to me Deutsche Welle Last week in Kasyanov:
Putin is not ready to negotiate. He does not accept defeat.
Mikhail Kasyanov also stated that sanctions from the West “shocked Putin and the people around him”.
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