Security agents question Kasparov over 'signs of extremist activity'

Investigators from Russia's security agency questioned the opposition leader Garry Kasparov, days after police crackdowns on anti-government protests.

Kasparov said agents from the Federal Security Service (FSB) asked him about statements to a radio station and in a newspaper published by his group, the United Civil Front.

"They were looking for some extremist statements or signs of extremist activities," the former chess champion said as he emerged after nearly four hours in a Moscow office of the FSB. "It's totally groundless. All of our statements were aimed at peaceful progress."

Kasparov was among the chief organisers of last weekend's rallies in Moscow and St Petersburg - the latest in a series of so-called "Dissenters' Marches". He was detained while trying to lead protesters through lines of police ringing the square in Moscow where opposition forces planned to hold an unauthorised demonstration and march. He was later released and fined for participating in the rally.

Officers clashed with about 200 demonstrators outside the police precinct where Kasparov was being held, beating them with nightsticks and fists. Protests in St Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod were also forcefully broken up.

The crackdown has reinforced opposition claims that the government is strangling democracy and suppressing dissent before parliamentary elections in December and a presidential vote next March.

The FSB confirmed its investigators had met Kasparov, but refused to comment further. Kasparov said later that he had been summoned to appear before prosecutors today.