A prominent former Russian security officer was detained on Friday by authorities on charges of extremism for allegedly criticising President Vladimir Putin and accusingb him of weakness and indecision. The detainment signals Putin's escalated efforts to crack down on critics following the short-lived insurrection by Wagner mercenaries last month.
The 52-year-old Igor Strelkov, whose real name of Igor Girkin, is a retired security officer and pro-war blogger who previously led the Moscow-backed forces in eastern Ukraine and in the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, had argued that a total mobilisation was needed to achieve victory for Russia.
He had reportedly called Putin "a nonentity" and a "cowardly waste of space", according to BBC, as his criticism of the Kremlin leader and Russian military failings in the ongoing war with Ukraine became more apparent.
Strelkov's detention was reported by his wife on his Telegram channel, saying 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 the three men who were implicated for their role in a missile strike that shot down a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet flying over Ukraine in 2014, killing all 298 passengers on board. All three men were convicted by a Dutch court last year.
Signals of Kremlin's tough stance on criticism
According to Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, the short-lived rebellion by the Wagner mercenary group, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, has given the Russian military the opportunity to go after its critics.
Notably, Prigozhin's rebellion was the most serious threat that the Putin administration faced in the 23 years of its rule, and exposing many weaknesses of the government.
"This is a direct outcome of Prigozhin's mutiny: the army's command now wields greater political leverage to quash its opponents in the public sphere," said Stanovaya.
The Wagner rebellion
Russia witnessed a series of dramatic events last month after Prigozhin called for mutiny-- in the latest event that demonstrated a feud between the country's official and private armies publically.
Subsequently, multiple videos showed Wagner fighters capturing the city of Rostov before racing north in convoy, transporting tanks and armoured trucks and smashing through barricades set up to stop them.
Later, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko brokered a deal wherein it was abruptly mentioned that Wagner soldiers had to move to Belarusian territory.
(with AP inputs)
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