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Vladimir Putin has a geopolitical strategy based on intervention in the world's most chaotic regions, according to chess grandmaster and Russian political campaigner Garry Kasparov.

"Right now, he is looking only for enemies," he told the Today programme. "Operating in chaos always gives a dictator huge tactical advantage."

A fierce critic of Mr Putin, Kasparov told James Naughtie that the Russian president was pursuing a strategy of day-to-day survival and expected him to "move onto every soft spot in the geopolitical map".

Western powers had faltered in response to the fallout from the invasion of Iraq, he said, and should never have allowed Syria's President Assad remain in power.