A prominent former Russian security official was detained by authorities on Friday on extremism charges for allegedly criticizing President Vladimir Putin and accusing him of weakness and indecision. The detention signals Putin’s growing efforts to crack down on critics after a short-lived uprising by Wagner mercenaries last month.
Igor Strelkov, 52, whose real name is Igor Girkin, a retired security official and pro-war blogger who previously led pro-Moscow forces in eastern Ukraine and the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, argued that total mobilization was needed for Russia to achieve victory.
According to the BBC, he reportedly called Putin “a non-existence” and a “cowardly waste of space”, as his criticism of the Kremlin leader and Russian military failures in the ongoing war with Ukraine became more pronounced.
Strelkov’s detention was reported by his wife on her Telegram channel, adding that the blogger faced charges of extremism. “I do not know anything about my husband’s whereabouts and he has not contacted me,” she said.
Strelkov is one of three people implicated in the 2014 missile attack on a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet flying over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. All three men were convicted by a Dutch court last year.
Signs of Kremlin’s tough stance on criticism
According to Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, the short-lived insurgency by a group of Wagner mercenaries led by Yevgeny Prigozhin has given the Russian military an opportunity to hit back at its critics.
Notably, Prigozhin’s rebellion was the most serious threat the Putin administration had faced in its 23 years of rule, and exposed many of the government’s weaknesses.
Stanovaya said, “This is a direct result of Prigozhin’s rebellion: the army command is now taking greater political advantage to crush its opponents in the public domain.”
Wagner Rebellion
The past month has seen a series of dramatic incidents in Russia after Prigozhin called for an uprising – with the latest incident publicly demonstrating the tussle between the country’s official and private armies.
Subsequently, several videos showed Wagner fighters racing north in convoy, carrying tanks and armored trucks, and capturing the city of Rostov before storming the barricades set up to stop them.
Later, the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko signed an agreement which suddenly mentioned that Wagner troops would have to move to the Belarusian territory.
(with AP input)
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