A Russian court detained Igor Girkin, a former intelligence colonel who has become a fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin and his military’s performance in Ukraine, for two months on charges of inciting extremism.
(Bloomberg) — A Russian court detained Igor Girkin, a former intelligence colonel who has become a fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin and his military’s performance in Ukraine, for two months on charges of inciting extremism.
Moscow’s Meshchansky court ordered Girkin’s arrest until Sept. 18, at the request of investigators, Interfax reported on Friday. Girkin, a commander of Moscow-backed separatist forces in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine, doesn’t admit guilt and isn’t cooperating with the investigation, Interfax said.
While supportive of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Girkin has been critical of Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu over the war, especially on his Telegram channel of 875,000 subscribers, where he has vented under the pseudonym “Strelkov.” In one of his recent posts, he called Putin a “cowardly mediocrity” who has harmed Russia.
Girkin was last year found guilty with two other defendants by a Dutch court of carrying out the deadly attack on Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014.
His criticism of Moscow echoes that of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary group who led a revolt last month aimed at ousting Russia’s defense minister and army chief. Girkin and Wagner are rivals.
“Strelkov, of course overstepped all the red lines a long time ago,” said Tatiana Stanovaya, founder of R.Politik, a political consultancy. “His arrest undoubtedly is in the interests of the Defense Ministry,” she said on Telegram.
(Updates with court’s decision)
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