The ex-intelligence officer is considered a supporter of aggressive war, but accused Putin of weakness. He was arrested in the summer for allegedly calling for terrorist actions. Now the verdict followed.
Russian ex-secret service officer and ultra-nationalist Igor Girkin, known under the pseudonym Igor Strelkov, has been sentenced to four years in a camp. The Moscow City Court imposed the sentence because he had called for extremism, as the Interfax agency reported. Girkin is also not allowed to run online media for three years. The defense announced that it would appeal the verdict.
Girkin is considered a supporter of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, but is a sharp critic of President Vladimir Putin. The former officer of the domestic intelligence service FSB led the uprising by Russian forces in the Ukrainian Donbass in 2014. He was convicted in absentia of murder in the Netherlands for his role in the shooting down of a passenger plane over eastern Ukraine, killing 298 people.
Girkin lived unmolested in Russia for a long time. He was even able to criticize the military leadership as incompetent when liberal politicians had long since been arrested for allegedly discrediting the Russian army. In the summer of 2023, Girkin was arrested for alleged calls for terrorist actions. He had accused Putin of weakness, indecisiveness and cowardly mediocrity. Observers assume that Girkin was increasingly damaging the Kremlin leader’s image among his nationalist electorate.
Source: Stern
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