London: Igor Girkin, who was convicted in absentia for his role in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 a decade ago, has been sentenced to four years in a penal colony after a Moscow court found him guilty of extremism charges.
The prominent Russian pro-war blogger, also known under his pseudonym “Strelkov”, accused President Vladimir Putin and the army top brass of not pursuing the Ukraine war effectively enough and had also publicly entertained ideas about running against Putin in an upcoming presidential election.
Girkin, a 53-year-old former colonel from the Russian spy service, was arrested last year after setting up the “Club of Angry Patriots” to save Russia from what he said was the danger of systemic turmoil due to military failures in Ukraine and jostling in the elite to eventually succeed Putin.
In one of his most outspoken tirades, in a post on July 18 on his official Telegram channel, followed by more than 760,000 people, Girkin peppered Putin with personal insults and urged him to pass power “to someone truly capable and responsible”.
According to SOTA, a Russian independent news outlet, Girkin defended his posts in court as emotional, nonliteral expressions – without admitting any guilt.
These posts, however, did not comprise Girkin’s most severe critiques of Putin and the Kremlin. He labelled Putin as the “Supreme Non-Commander-in-Chief,” referred to Russian generals as “clowns,” and officials as “idiots.”
Girkin helped Russia to annex Crimea in 2014 and, soon after, to organise pro-Russian militias who wrested part of eastern Ukraine out of Kyiv’s control – events that started Russia’s war on Ukraine. He briefly served as defence minister in the Donetsk People’s Republic, a Russian puppet state.
Novosti reported as part of his Thursday sentence he was also barred from accessing the internet, a move that essentially shuts off his ability to publicly lambast Putin’s leadership. In pre-trial detention, Girkin announced plans to challenge Putin in the 2024 election — but his candidacy was not registered.