Prominent Russian nationalist Igor Girkin, who was detained by the Russians on charges of inciting extremismafter criticizing President Vladimir Putin and leaders of the Russian regular army, he was brought before the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow on Friday.

The move suggests authorities have grown weary of his criticism of what they call Russia’s “special military operation” and perhaps of other strong nationalist voices who seemed to have the exclusive right to deride the war effort or criticize military leaders.

The moves follow a failed uprising last month led by another outspoken critic of the army command, Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group, who is still at large but has sharply scaled back his attacks.

The Prosecutor’s Office of the Federal Security Service (FSB) asked the Meshchan District Court of Moscow to keep Girkin in custody on charges of incitement to extremism and asked for the maximum penalty of five years in prison, news agencies report, TASS and RIA Novosti note.

Who is Igor Girkin?

Nicknamed “Strelkov” (Russian for “shooter”), he was one of the main commanders of the pro-Russian separatists at the beginning of the war with the Ukrainian army in Donbas, after the annexation of Crimea, and, perhaps, their most publicized commander at the time.

Before commanding separatist forces in Donbas, Girkin was instrumental in planning the annexation of Crimea and organizing Russia’s notorious “men in green” as an officer in the FSB, Moscow’s main intelligence service.

Girkin was accused of terrorism in Ukraine and was sanctioned by the European Union for his role in this activity.

After the start of the war in Ukraine last year, he distinguished himself by sharply criticizing Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his analysis of the events at the front.

On November 17, 2022, he was sentenced to life in prison in the Netherlands for his role in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014. The victims of the tragedy were from 17 countries, including 198 citizens of the Netherlands, 43 from Malaysia, 38 Australians and 10 Britons. 80 of the dead were children.

The investigation into the tragedy was conducted by the Netherlands with the participation of Ukraine, Malaysia, Australia and Belgium.

The court noted that it concluded that flight MH17 was shot down by a Russian BUK anti-aircraft system, and Girkin and the other defendants were accused of arranging for the plane to fall into the hands of separatists and organizing its transportation.

None of the defendants was charged with personal involvement in the downing of the Malaysia Airlines plane, and all were tried in absentia.

Girkin sharply attacked Vladimir Putin

Although in the first months of the war, Girkin blamed the failures and failures of the Russian armed forces on the incompetence of the military command in Moscow, criticizing, in particular, the minister of defense, since the end of last year he began to criticize President Vladimir Putin as well.

“It’s not just me… people are not blind and deaf at all: middle-class people there don’t even hide their views, which, I’ll put it this way, are not entirely pleasant to either the president or the minister of defense,” he said in one of the first such messages published on December 11, 2022.

In a scathing 90-minute video in which he analyzed Russia’s conduct of the war, Girkin also spoke of a “fish head that is completely rotten” and called for measures to reform the army.

In another message from March of this year, he claimed that the only times President Vladimir Putin is real and not a double is when the Kremlin leader appears alone or at one end of the table, away from his guests.

“The real Volodymyr Volodymyrovych was at Christmas, sitting alone in the Kremlin church. unmarried! The priests were probably afraid to approach him. It was probably a sniper who warned that he would shoot if they came closer than 20 meters. This is the real Volodymyr Volodymyrovych, who, when receiving ministers, sits alone on the side of the table and looks at them through binoculars: “Where are they?” he said then.

“This is a real thing. But the one who decorates, unites everyone, there are others, And the one who makes speeches… when I see Putin in the crowd, I immediately see a double. And no one knows what this double is saying. He must be talking nonsense,” he continued.

Girkin compared Putin to a “mummy”

Literally a month later, Girkin announced the creation of the so-called “club of angry patriots”, blaming Russia for the military defeat.

“We entered into a long and protracted war, for which our economy was completely unprepared. Our army and political system were not ready for this either,” he said in an address sent on April 2.

In another direct attack on the Russian president, which was broadcast just last month, Girkin said that Putin, as a military leader, should not hide and take the reins of war.

“And where is Putin? Peskov (no – the press secretary of the Kremlin Dmytro Peskov) makes a statement from time to time and says that Putin knows what is happening, that he is aware of what is happening. You know what, you can give the report to the mummy after all. The mummy is lying down, you approach it, say hello and you can report: let me familiarize you with the situation. This and that happen. The mummy is silent. Have you filed a report? Well, they gave it. The result is obvious,” the accused Girkin said on June 9.

“The Commander-in-Chief has completely withdrawn during the war, and the people in his inner circle are openly fighting each other for leadership. Such actions of theirs undermine stability at the front, and he does not react in any way,” he continued the accusation, referring to the then tension between Wagner’s mercenaries led by Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Ghirkin’s arrest on Friday appears to have taken place during a purge ordered by Putin following a military uprising that was quashed at the last minute by Prigozhin.

Girkin was not close to the head of “Wagner”, there was an open conflict between them, but his arrest could be a new measure by the Kremlin to control the Russian information space.

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