( dpa )- Opposition politician and former chess champion Garry Kasparov has been stopped by police while in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Ekho Moskvy radio reported Sunday.
Kasparov was in a minibus with others at Sochi when he was stopped by police.
He told Ekho Movsky from a police station that police confiscated the rented minibus on suspicion the vehicle had been stolen.
Russia's Interfax news agency quoted Kasparov as saying the driver was told to move all passengers to the police station.
"Our status is not clear. It looks like we were semi-detained," he said.
However the report quoted law enforcement agencies as saying only the driver was taken to a police station and that Kasparov and the other passengers were told to remain in the minibus.
Kasparov was in Sochi to talk to residents who fear their homes will have to make way for construction work for the 2014 winter Olympics.
The Kremlin critic, who heads the opposition coalition The Other Russia, spent five days in custody in November for his role in protest marches ahead of Russia's parliamentary elections.
In December, he pulled out of the race for the March 2 presidential elections saying he was blocked by authorities from holding a congress for his nomination.