Moscow City Court on Thursday convicted prominent Russian nationalist Igor Girkin of inciting extremism over his criticism of the war in Ukraine and sentenced him to four years in prison.
Girkin was placed in custody in July last year after he established the “Club of Angry Patriots” to save Russia from what he claimed was systemic turmoil stemming from military failures in Ukraine and machinations among the political elite about who would eventually succeed Putin.
In a particularly outspoken post on July 18 on his official Telegram channel, Girkin directed a volley of personal insults at Putin and urged him to hand power “to someone truly capable and responsible.”
While his acerbic criticism had been tolerated by the authorities for months, the mood changed after late Wagner Group commander Yevgeny Prigozhin and his troops launched an aborted mutiny to oust Russia’s military leadership last June.
Girkin, who adopted the alias Strelkov (shooter), was a prominent leader of Russian-backed separatist fighters in Ukraine’s Donetsk region in 2014, wresting it from Kyiv’s control.
Girkin is also one of three men sentenced in absentia last year to life imprisonment by a court in the Netherlands for the July 2014 downing of Malaysian Airlines plane MH17 over eastern Ukraine.
The original article contains 378 words, the summary contains 199 words. Saved 47%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Moscow City Court on Thursday convicted prominent Russian nationalist Igor Girkin of inciting extremism over his criticism of the war in Ukraine and sentenced him to four years in prison.
Girkin was placed in custody in July last year after he established the “Club of Angry Patriots” to save Russia from what he claimed was systemic turmoil stemming from military failures in Ukraine and machinations among the political elite about who would eventually succeed Putin.
In a particularly outspoken post on July 18 on his official Telegram channel, Girkin directed a volley of personal insults at Putin and urged him to hand power “to someone truly capable and responsible.”
While his acerbic criticism had been tolerated by the authorities for months, the mood changed after late Wagner Group commander Yevgeny Prigozhin and his troops launched an aborted mutiny to oust Russia’s military leadership last June.
Girkin, who adopted the alias Strelkov (shooter), was a prominent leader of Russian-backed separatist fighters in Ukraine’s Donetsk region in 2014, wresting it from Kyiv’s control.
Girkin is also one of three men sentenced in absentia last year to life imprisonment by a court in the Netherlands for the July 2014 downing of Malaysian Airlines plane MH17 over eastern Ukraine.
The original article contains 378 words, the summary contains 199 words. Saved 47%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!