Russian investigators on Friday arrested a leading nationalist critic of the country’s conduct of the war in Ukraine, in a sign that last month’s brief mutiny by Wagner mercenaries has further reduced tolerance for dissent, even among those who support the invasion of Moscow.
Igor Girkin, also known as Strelkov, was detained in his apartment by detectives, who accused him of extremist activities, his wife, Miroslava, said in a message on the Telegram messaging app. RIA Novosti, a Russian state news agency, confirmed Mr Girkin’s detention, citing his lawyer.
Who is Girkin?
Mr Girkin, a popular nationalist blogger, has become increasingly critical of the leadership of the Russian military and the way it has managed the war in Ukraine. He has advocated a stronger mobilization of Russian society and its economy to support the war effort, as well as a purge of those opposed to the invasion.
He escalated his criticism in recent days, launching personal attacks against President Vladimir V. Putin, whom he referred to as a “nothing who managed to dust the eyes” of much of the population.
“The country cannot survive another six years of this cowardly mediocrity at the helm,” Girkin wrote in a Telegram post on Tuesday, referring to Russia’s next presidential election.
A veteran of the Russian army and former intelligence officer, Girkin helped Russia illegally annex Crimea in 2014 and subsequently led pro-Russian separatist militias in eastern Ukraine. His relentless discipline earned him a reputation as a decisive commander.
In May 2014, he was appointed Minister of Defense of the Donetsk People’s Republic, a separatist entity that claimed the territory of the Donetsk region of Ukraine. A few months later, he was fired after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 on board.
Last November, a court in the Netherlands ordered Mr. Girkin and two others found guilty of murder for their role in bringing down the plane; Mr Girkin has denied responsibility.
Since 2014, Mr. Girkin was gradually sidelined, as his messianic views were widely regarded as too extreme. He regained prominence with last year’s large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine and became one of the most popular commentators on the war.
Following Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner group of mercenaries, Mr. Girkin has become increasingly critical of the Russian military leadership. He derided Defense Minister Sergei K. Shoigu as a “marshal of plywood,” but he was also critical of Prigozhin’s attempt to expose the very foundations of Putin’s power by launching a mutiny in late June.
Why it matters
This month, Russian authorities searched a patriotic cultural center in St. Petersburg where Mr Girkin said he would be giving a speech. It was a rare move against hardline supporters of the war in Ukraine that signaled a growing Russian effort to crush influential ultra-nationalists after the Wagner mutiny.
The aborted uprising has increased the powers of Russia’s Defense Ministry, which Girkin has long been “itching to arrest,” said Tatiana Stanovaya, a nonresident scientist with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
“This is one of the consequences of Prigozhin’s mutiny,” Ms Stanovaya said in a Telegram post after Mr Girkin’s arrest was announced.
“The military has been given more political opportunities to repress its opponents in the public space,” she said. “I wouldn’t expect it to be anything huge; the most radical can be prosecuted, so the rest will be more careful.
Background
While Mr Girkin is the most prominent critic of the Russian military during the war, he was not the only nationalist figure to be charged this week. A retired Russian military intelligence colonel, Vladimir Kvachkov, was charged with discrediting the armed forces, according to Russian news media.
So far, the charge of discrediting the armed forces has mainly been used against left-wing critics of the war. Mr Kvachkov, 74, said the allegations were likely based on a criticism he published, as part of a group of hard-line, mostly retired military officers, of the Kremlin’s military campaign, calling for all-out war against Ukraine, according to the newspaper Kommersant.
On Friday, a group of supporters of Mr. Girkin in a message on his Telegram channel that his detention “undermined the confidence of the country’s people in law enforcement agencies” and would have “extremely negative consequences for the stability of the country”.
But Mr Putin has indicated that he is firmly on the side of his military leadership. The Russian president said during a meeting with members of his Security Council on Friday that the military had acted “professionally” in managing the fighting in Ukraine.
Neil MacFarquhar reporting contributed.
