Kasparov says Russia has become a "police state"

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PRAGUE, June 5 (Reuters) - Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov said on Tuesday Russia had become a "police state" and urged the West to stop providing President Vladimir Putin with "democratic credentials".

Kasparov, one of the leaders of the United Civil Front opposition group, said that under Putin civil society, human rights and the rule of law had all suffered greatly.

The Group of Eight (G8) are scheduled to meet in Germany from Wednesday with leaders from Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United States and Germany all attending.

Kasparov said in the Czech capital that by taking Putin seriously, western countries were giving him credibility at home, leaving ordinary Russians with no sense that something is wrong.

"Russia today is a police state, masqueraded as a democracy," he told a panel at a democracy and security conference where U.S. President George W. Bush is to give the keynote address on Tuesday afternoon.

"... And yet tomorrow, the leaders of the free world will sit down in Germany and treat Vladimir Putin as an equal... Putin needs the help of the free world to maintain this illusion."

Kasparov has launched several attacks against the Kremlin since Russian authorities prevented him and other protesters in mid-May from travelling to a Russia-EU summit.

Last week he urged the European Union to press for a free and democratic presidential election in Russia next year.

He and several other Russian opposition politicians have also filed a complaint against Moscow at the European Court of Human Rights over their treatment at a rally in April.

Putin is stepping down in 2008 after two terms in the Kremlin but he is expected to anoint a successor to run for election.

"What we have in Russia, is an entirely superficial display of democracy," Kasparov said.