Chess champion and opposition activist Garry Kasparov was questioned for almost four hours by Russia's state security service on Friday.
Gary Kasparov
Kasparov was summoned by the Federal Security Service (FSB), a successor to the Soviet KGB, after an anti-Kremlin rally last Saturday during which he was briefly detained and fined for a public order offence.
After leaving the FSB office in central Moscow, Kasparov said he had been questioned about a radio interview he gave before the protest and a newspaper published by his opposition movement, on suspicion they had called for extremist action.
"It seems totally groundless because all our statements . . . they were aimed at peaceful protests," Kasparov told journalists. Kasparov said he had repeatedly expressed his opposition to violence and added he hoped the claims against him would be withdrawn.
"They have no reasons, they have no hook to proceed with criminal charges. But again, today in Russia we know nobody is safe."
Earlier, Kasparov said: "I think it's an important moment in Russia's political and public life and its jurisprudence because it's an obvious attempt to make any kind of political activity the subject of criminal law."
Kasparov helped organise Saturday's protest in Moscow. City authorities declared the rally unlawful. and police detained hundreds of protesters.