Russia jails nationalist critic Girkin, who called Putin cowardly, for four years

Former Ukraine rebel leader convicted of extremism and sentenced to four years in prison by Moscow City Court.

Russian nationalist and ex-rebel commander Igor Girkin, whose pro-Moscow militants sparked a decade-long armed conflict in east Ukraine, was jailed for four years on January 25 after repeatedly criticising the Kremlin.

Girkin, who also goes by the pseudonym “Strelkov”, was instrumental in fomenting the conflict between Kremlin-backed separatists and Kyiv’s armed forces in Ukraine’s Donbas region in 2014.

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The Moscow City Court said it had found the 53-year-old guilty of “public calls to carry out extremist activities”, and that he would serve his sentence in a general regime colony.

“I serve the Fatherland!” Girkin yelled out after the verdict was read out. His followers had gathered outside the court earlier.

He was arrested last year on “extremism” charges after months of public attacks on Russia’s military leaders and President Vladimir Putin, whom he chided for not pushing a more aggressive offensive against Ukraine.

Girkin had called Mr. Putin an “old idiot” and said “the country will not survive another six years of this cowardly mediocrity in power” in some of his final social media posts before his arrest.