Zee Beam News

MOSCOW, November 17 (RIA Novosti) - Russian opposition leader Garry Kasparov told a U.K. newspaper that he does not expect Dmitry Medvedev to last more than 18 months as president, and that the financial crisis will lead to mass protests. Discussing Medvedev's election as president earlier this year, the chess grandmaster told The Independent: "I don't like to call it an election: that gives the wrong impression. Barack Obama had 65 million voters. Medvedev had one." "I would be surprised if this regime lasts more than 18 months," he continued. "I don't know what form change will take. We just have to hope it won't be violent: this country has had enough violence. But the regime is pushing it towards that. Soon there will be hundreds of thousands of people on the streets." Kasparov leads the United Civil Front, part of The Other Russia, an umbrella group uniting various small opposition parties. He said that with Russia's economic downturn - the stock market has lost 70% of its value since May and the Central Bank's international reserves are falling by billions of dollars each week - the main support base of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will decline. "The 15 per cent of people who make up this 'new middle class' - they are Putin's strongest support group - have had it good," he told the paper. "They could get credit, they could buy cars, maybe even an apartment, travel abroad. Now they are facing major problems. You can lose your job, you can lose your apartment because you cannot pay. They are used to a passive political mode, but they read the Internet and they see all these billions of dollars disappearing. Where does the money go? Into the hands of Putin's buddies. These people will learn quick political lessons." At a meeting of the World Association of Newspapers in June, Kasparov said he considers RIA Novosti to be a Kremlin mouthpiece, publishing only propaganda. The agency denied the allegation, noting that it had hosted 50 news conferences and other events involving fellow The Other Russia members. Kasparov was held by police in Moscow for five days after leading an opposition rally in the run-up to the parliamentary election, and pulled out of the presidential race the following month, saying the authorities had made it impossible for him to run.