The Russian essayist and activist Garry Kasparov at the Excelsior Hotel in Rome.

While Russia's use of technology in the geopolitical sphere is aimed at securing short-term gains, China is in it for the long game, according to former world chess champion Garry Kasparov.

Though Russia and China have often been grouped together in regard to their troubled relations with America, Kasparov, a long-time critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, told CNBC that the technological "threat" from both countries should be viewed differently.

The threat from Moscow is "all about immediate benefit," he said in an interview. "The threat coming from Russia is a more tactical threat, a threat that could be resolved from very agile use of modern technologies and undermining the foundations of the free world."

Russia's use of technology in order to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election continues to generate headlines today, while China's rising technological strength has come into question amid the U.S.-Sino trade war.

Kasparov, who is now a security ambassador at antivirus software maker Avast, combines the alleged spreading of fake news online and so-called "troll factories" like the Russian-based Internet Research Agency in his criticism of Russia's exploitation of technology.

With China, the threat is "more strategic," according to Kasparov. "It's more about collecting data. It's more about playing long games," he said. "If Putin cares about dollars and immediate political benefits, the Chinese think in (terms of) centuries."

But one thing's for certain, Kasparov says: "These threats, they are real."