Politic?: Russia's Love Affair With Itself

"For 23 years, a nonentity was at the head of the country, who managed to ‘throw dust in the eyes’ of a significant part of the population."

"The country will not survive another six years in power of this cowardly mediocrity."
"The only thing he could do usefully ‘before the end’ … is to ensure the transfer of power to someone truly capable and responsible."
"Too bad it didn’t even cross his mind."
Igor Strelkov/Igor Girkin, Moscow

Arrested pro-war Kremlin critic Girkin charged with incitement to extremism

Russian nationalist Kremlin critic and former military commander Igor Girkin, also known as Igor Strelkov, who is charged with inciting extremist activity, sits behind a glass wall of an enclosure for defendants during a court hearing in Moscow, Russia, July 21, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Paramoshin

Prominent nationalist Igor Strelkov, a retired security officer who had back in 2014 led ethnic Russian Ukrainian separatists in eastern Ukraine, and who accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of weakness and indecision in carrying out his 'special military operation' received a setback after charges laid against him in July of inciting extremist activity, when a Moscow court ruled that he must remain in prison on extremism charges.

The Netherlands had convicted him in absentia of murder for his role in the shooting down of a Malaysian Airlines passenger jet in 2014, with the use of a Buk missile, evidently mistaking the passenger jet for a Ukrainian fighter jet, and giving orders to the Ukrainian Russian speakers rebelling against the government in Kyiv to shoot down the plane, causing the death of all aboard.

The 52-year-old nationalist hard-liner whose actual name is Igor Girkin was ordered by Moscow District Court to remain in police custody until his trial date of September 18. Arrested on July, he faces charges of calling for extremist activities. Should he be convicted he is likely to be given five years in prison. He has insisted as a stern critic of President Putin that a total mobilization is required for victory in Ukraine.

Putin, he has stated is a "nonentity", a "cowardly mediocrity", establishing himself as one of Vladimir Putin's targets. And while a court may indeed hand out a five-year prison sentence for his insubordinate insults to the great man of revisionist grandeur, it is highly unlikely that he will survive that incarceration before perishing of undetermined causes.

His legal team had recommended he be held under house arrest; health issues were cited in defence of that humanitarian alternative. Yet it is those very 'health' issues that will be cited as cause of his death in all likelihood during enforced detention. "The court decision is unfair and we will appeal", stated his loyal wife. And good luck with that one.

Hawkish critics like Mr. Strelkov will now have even more reason to act with a little more circumspect caution in their criticism of Vladimir Putin and his dwindling prospects of completing his goals for the 'special military operation'. Strelkov now represents another warning sign that critics of the regime should exercise greater caution because the Kremlin is taking careful note of their activities and actions, and there are consequences waiting in the wings.

In the wake of Yevgeny Prigozhin's Wagner mercenary group's aborted mutiny where Rostov-on-Don was captured before the mercenaries marched on to Moscow in a seemingly unchallenged drive to take the capital, approaching up to 200 kilometres to Moscow while demanding the ouster of the country's top military leaders, Strelkov was arrested, Prigozhin met his death in a surprise air crash, and Ukraine's drone attacks are intensifying within Russian borders.

What Strelkov had in common with Prigozhin was his criticism of Russian military leaders. He denounced their incompetence, but he also had contempt for Prigozhin, noting his actions represented treason, a major threat to the Russian state. Prigozhin returned the compliment to Strelkov, a mutual detestation -- with Strelkov's supporters claiming that the criminal inquiry that scooped their leader into an arrest warrant and trial was initiated by a Wagner leader.