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Igor Girkin accuses Putin and the Russian army leadership of not conducting the war in Ukraine effectively enough

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Maxim Shemetov / REUTERS

A Russian court has sentenced ex-secret service officer and ultra-nationalist Igor Girkin, known under the pseudonym Igor Strelkov, to four years in a camp.

The Moscow City Court justified the verdict by saying that Girkin had called for "extremism."

He is also not allowed to manage 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.

He accused Putin and the Russian army leadership of not conducting the war effectively enough.

For months he vented his anger on the messaging service Telegram, among other places.

He recently publicly considered running in the upcoming presidential election.

Girkin convicted of shooting down MH17

The former officer of the domestic intelligence service FSB led the attack by Russian forces in the Ukrainian Donbass in 2014.

He was convicted in absentia of murder in the Netherlands for his role in the downing of passenger flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine, killing 298 people.

Girkin lived unmolested in Russia for a long time.

He repeatedly criticized the military leadership as incompetent.

Among other things, he accused Putin of being weak in decision-making and criticized him for being too lenient.

In the summer of 2023, Girkin was arrested for alleged calls for terrorist actions.

Girkin's case is being followed closely by observers.

It was seen as an indication of how the Kremlin is responding to the nationalist camp's aggressive criticism of the conduct of the war in Ukraine.

What is striking is that the sentence in Girkin's case is significantly lower than that of many prominent Putin and war opponents from the liberal camp who were tried for serious crimes.

The opposition politician Ilya Yashin, for example, was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for denigrating the Russian armed forces, while the opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Mursa was sentenced to 25 years for treason.

aeh/slü/boy/dpa